by Nathaniel R
This year's European Film Awards ceremony (which moves locales each season) will take place in Rekyjavik, Iceland on December 10th. Though nominations won't be announced until November 8th, we now know 30 of the titles that are being considered for those nominations (another dozen are usually added to the list before voting though). On the following list you'll see a couple of 2021 Oscar titles but that's because the EFA's calendar runs summer to summer and is less concerned with release dates than with world premieres (which is smart given that so many different countries are involved); films which had their first official screenings between June 1st, 2021 and May 31st, 2022 qualify. The EFA Awards are always interesting because they are fairly unpredictable and have no concerns with being an Oscar bellwether though some of the titles vying for prizes each year end up as Oscar submissions from their respective countries.
The list is after the jump (links go to reviews or coverage if we've done any)...
ALCARRÀS
- ALCARRÀS (Spain) - Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin. Drama about a large family and a peach orchard they may lose in the Catalonia region. Spain will release their Oscar submission finalist list tomorrow and we fully expect this one to be cited.
- AS FAR AS I CAN WALK (Serbia) - Drama about Ghanaian immigrants in Serbia
- THE BEASTS (Spain) - A French couple (Denis Menochet and Marina Foïs) living in Spain come into conflict with their neighbors. From rising director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, already an Oscar nominee due to his short film Madre
- BEAUTIFUL BEINGS (Iceland) - Concerning an increasingly violent group of boys, one of their mothers a clairvoyant
- BELFAST (UK/Ireland)
- BENEDICTION (UK) Terence Davies latest, a biopic about the poet Siegfried Sassoon had a quiet little release this summer in the US
- BOY FROM HEAVEN (Sweden)
BURNING DAYS
- BURNING DAYS (Turkey) - A 'moral thriller' about a young prosecutor dragged into local politics. Though it didn't win anything at Cannes it was well reviewed in the Un Certain Regard lineup and was also eligible for the Queer Palm.
- CLOSE (Belgium)
- CORSAGE (Austria)
- THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS (Belgium/Italy)
- EO (Poland)
- GIRL PICTURE (Finland) Last week to see this in theaters in NY and LA (!) so see it tonight or tomorrow if you've been putting it off. This coming of age picture about three girls in Helsinki won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Prize for World Cinema at Sundance. It's "ihana"! (That's an all purpose Finnish superlative, the only Finnish word I know!). We're really hoping it becomes Finland's Oscar submission.
- GODLAND (Iceland) A 19th century drama about a young Danish priest (Elliott Crosse Hove) in Iceland. One of Iceland's most internationally reknowned stars, former EFA nominee Ingvar Sigurdsson (A White White Day) has a supporting role. We expect this will be Iceland's Oscar submission though they haven't made an announcement yet.
- THE HOLE (Italy)
- HOLY SPIDER (Sweden)
- MAIXABEL (Spain) - A widow agrees to meet with the man who killed her husband. From the director Iciar Bollain (Take My Eyes, Even the Rain, Rosa's Wedding).
- MEDITERRANEAN FEVER (Palestine) - A writer with chronic depression befriends a crook in Haifa. Amer Hlehel and Ashraf Farah (who were both recently in Tel Aviv on Fire) star.
MORE THAN EVER / PLUS QUE JAMAIS
- MORE THAN EVER (France) - Relationship drama starring the late Gaspar Ulliel and Vicky Krieps
- NOSTALGIA (Italy)
- ONE FINE MORNING (France)
- PACIFICATION (France) - You don't hear this everyday since running times keep getting longer but this film has shaved off a full hour of its running time since its Cannes bow! Please note that Elisa's review here at TFE contained the following prophetic sentence "You could cut an entire hour for a more effective film"
- PARALLEL MOTHERS (Spain)
- THE QUIET GIRL (Ireland) - Ireland's Oscar submission this year
RABIYE KURNAZ VS GEORGE BUSH
- RABIYE KURNAZ VS GEORGE BUSH (Germany) -Meltem Kaptan won the Silver Bear for acting at Berlinale for this political drama about a housewife relentlessly pursuing help for her son despite indifferent responses from authorities.
- REFLECTION (Ukraine) - Revolves around a surgeon who tries to heal and return to humanity again after brutal captivity by Russian military forces. Valentyn Vasyanovych's previous feature Atlantis aws Ukraine's Oscar submission for 2020. Will this one follow in its footsteps?
- TORI AND LOKITA (Belgium)
- TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (Sweden/UK) - The Palme D'Or winner at Cannes. It's expected to be an Oscar player this year but not in the International category since it's in the English language.
WILL-O-THE-WISP
- WILL-O-THE-WISP (Portugal) The latest film from the always provocative queer director João Pedro Rodrigues (The Ornithologist, O Fantasma) is about a two men in a fire brigade "immersed in love and desire"
- WOMEN DO CRY (Bulgaria) - Ensemble drama about women in Bulgaria and violent protests and debates around gender
Lots of details and images from the films are up the European Film Awards site.