by Nathaniel R
The European Film Awards were held yesterday, mostly virtually, with Denmark's Another Round winning all four of its nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, and Screenplay). Mads Mikkelsen headlines as a depressed high school teacher who decides to experiment with binge-drinking with three of his closest teacher friends. The funny sad beautifully executed film has a star turn at its center that we hope Oscar will consider in the crowded Best Actor race. We already presumed it a major threat at the Oscars for Best International Feature Film and this should all but erase any doubts that it will be nominated. It will be available to rent online starting December 18th in the US. At the EFA site you can see all the acceptance speeches. Here's the complete list of winners for the 33rd Annual European Film Awards and a couple of more comments...
FILM
- ★ Another Round/Druk (Denmark)
- Berlin Alexanderplatz (Germany)
- Corpus Christi (Poland) - Oscar Nominee last season
- Martin Eden (Italy)
- The Painted Bird (Czech Republic) - Oscar finalist last season
- Undine (Germany)
DIRECTOR
- Agnieszka Holland, Charlatan - Reviewed / Czech Republic's Oscar submission
- Jan Komasa, Corpus Christi
- Maria Sødahl, Hope - Norway's Oscar submission
- Pietro Marcello, Martin Eden - Reviewed
- François Ozon, Summer of 85 - Reviewed
- ★ Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
ACTRESS
- ★ Paula Beer, Undine (Germany) - Reviewed
- Natasha Berezhnaya, DAU. Natasha (Ukraine/UK/Russia/Germany)
- Nina Hoss, My Little Sister (Switzerland) - Reviewed / Oscar Submission
- Andrea Braein Hovig, Hope (Norway) Oscar Submission
- Marta Nieto, Mother (Spain) - based on the Oscar nominated short from 2018
- Ane Dahl Torp, Charter (Sweden) - Sweden's Oscar submission
Beer was stunned to win the prize. Hovig and Torp might still have a red carpet in their near future if their films are nominated for the April Oscars (and it isn't a virtual ceremony).
ACTOR
- Goran Bogdan, Father (Serbia) - Reviewed
- Bartosz Bielenia, Corpus Christi (Poland)
- Elio Germano, Hidden Away (Italy)
- Luca Marinelli, Martin Eden (Italy) - Reviewed
- ★ Mads Mikkelsen, Another Round (Denmark)
- Viggo Mortensen, Falling (Canada/UK/Denmark)
Mikkelsen triumphed against a very competitive field.
SCREENWRITER
- Martin Behnke & Burhan Qurbani, Berlin Alexanderplatz (Germany)
- Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo, Bad Tales (Italy)
- Costa Gavras, Adults in the Room (Greece)
- Pietro Marcello, Mauricizo Braucci, Martin Eden (Italy)
- Mateus Pacewicz, Corpus Christi (Poland)
- ★ Thomas Vinterberg & Tobia Lindhom, Another Round (Denmark)
COMEDY
- Advantages of Travelling by Train (Spain)
- ★ The Big Hit (France)
- Ladies of Steel (Finland)
DISCOVERY
- Full Moon (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
- Gagarine (France)
- Instinct (The Netherlands) - Reviewed / Oscar submission last season
- Isaac (Lithuania)
- Jumbo (France/Belgium/Luxembourg) - Capsule Review
- ★ Sole (Italy/Poland)
DOCUMENTARY
- Acasa, My Home (Romania) - Oscar Eligible This Year
- The Cave (Denmark/US/Germany/Qatar/France) - Reviewed / Oscar Nom Last Year
- ★ Collective (Romania) - Reviewed
- Gunda (Norway)
- Little Girl (France)
- Saudi Runaway (Switzerland)
Collective continues to gather major plaudits. It's looking very strong for a nomination for Best Documentary Feature and/or Best International Feature at the Oscars this year. If it achieves both it will be the second consecutive year for that double (after Honeyland's nominations last year). Before Honeyland that had never happened. Gunda has also been doing well with precursor awards (both of these films are just-announced nominees for Cinema Eye). But we think it might be a little art-film abstract for the Academy (there's no narration so it's all visual observation of farm animal, a pig and her piglets in particular). We'll see.
ANIMATED FILM
- Calamity (France/Denmark) an interpretation of the Calamity Jane story
- ★ Josep (France/Belgium) an animated biopic of a policeman and an artist after the Spanish Civil War
- Klaus (Spain) Oscar nominee last year
- The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks (Russia) on the follies of the 20th century
Will any of these show up in the eligibility list for Best Animated Feature this year? None of them are currently certain
SHORT FILM
- ★ All Cats are Grey in the Dark (Switzerland)
- Genius Loci (France)
- Past Perfect (Portugal)
- Sun Dog (Belgium/Russia)
- Uncle Thomas, Accounting for the Days (Portugal/Canada/France) - Oscar finalist last season
We don't yet know of these shorts (other than Uncle Thomas) will be Oscar eligible. But we'll assume All Cats now is after multiple festival wins. It's a 19 minute documentary short which you can stream at The New York Times.
The rest of the prizes are decided by juries and don't have nominations. Here are the winners.
Cinematography Matteo Cocco, “Hidden Away”
Editing Maria Fantastica Valmori, “Once More Unto The Breach”
Production Design Cristina Casali, “The Personal History Of David Copperfield”
Costume Design Ursula Patzak, “Hidden Away”
Make-Up & Hair Yolanda Pina, Felix Terrero and Nacho Diaz, “The Endless Trench”
Original Score Dascha Dauenhauer, “Berlin Alexanderplatz”
Sound Yolande Decarsin, “Little Girl”
Visual Effects Inaki Madariaga, “The Platform”
Eurimages Co-Production Award Luis Urbano
University Film Award “Saudi Runaway”
EFA For Innovative Storytelling Mark Cousins, “Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema”