"Fatherland" and "La Bola Negra" dominate the European Film Award nominations

by Nathaniel R

Poland's Oscar submission Fatherland (from Pawel Pawlikowski of Ida and Cold War fame) and Spain's Oscar submission La Bola Negra (which took Best Director at Cannes for Los Javis) are in a presumedly tight battle at the European Film Awards. The dramas, one intimate and brief the other epic and expansive, received 11 and 10 nominations respectively. The Palme d'Or winner Fjord is a quite distant third with five nominations. January's European Film Awards will be held in Athens, Greece. Though the ceremony moves countries each year, it's never been to Southeastern Europe before.

The nominees and some stats after the jump...

EUROPEAN FILM

• Fatherland (Polish Oscar Submission)
• Fjord (Romanian Oscar Submission)
• In Waves (France/Belgium)
• Iron Boy (France/Belgium)
• Jim Queen (France/Belgium)
• La Bola Negra (Spanish Oscar Submission)
• La Gradiva (France/Italy)
• Letters from a Silenced Country (Poland/Lithuania)
• Lucy Lost (France)
• Naza (UK)
• Rehearsals for a Revolution (Czech Republic/Spain)
• To Hold a Mountain (Montenegro/Serbia)
• Viva Carmen (France)
• Whispers in the Woods (France)
• Woman Unknown (Danish Oscar Submission)

Every since they have expanded this category to include most of the animated feature and documentary feature nominees (which also have their own categories -- note that Fiction Films do not so they have to share the big one), the top category has come to feel somewhat meaningless and shapeless. 15 is too many nominees for a category! Nevertheless it's a good marketing feather in each of these films caps as they seek more global attention / distribution.

Some films that made the long list for fiction film but missed here (despite 1 or more EFA nods in other categories) were France and Belgium Oscar submissions Coward and Minotaur, the British awards hopeful Elsinore, the current French release Gentle Monster, and Pedro Almodóvar's Bitter Christmas. Some films on the long list that were completely shut out include Mike Leigh's Tender Loving Care, the BIFA honored I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, and yet more Oscar submissions like Bulgaria's The Dreamed Adventure, Italy's The Spiral, Lithuania's How to Divorce During the War, and Norway's Growth of the Soil. 

DIRECTOR

• Sandra Wollner (1st nomination), Everytime
• Pawel Pawlikowski (4 noms, 2 wins) for Fatherland
• Cristian Mungiu (3 noms, 1 win) for Fjord
• Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (1st nominations) La Bola Negra
• Andrey Zvyagintsev (3 noms) for Minotaur

All five of these films are Oscar submissions in Best International Feature Film. Will any of these auteurs be in the mix for the Best Director prize at the Oscars? 

ACTRESS

• Mathilde Arcel (first nomination), Woman Unknown
• Penélope Cruz (6 noms, 1 win in this category) for Bunker
• Sandra Hüller (6 noms, 2 wins) for Fatherland
• Sandra Hüller (6 noms, 2 wins) for Rose
• Renate Reinsve (4 noms, 1 win) for Fjord
• Léa Seydoux (2 noms) for Gentle Monster

It's a battle of EFA superstars! Hüller manages a double nomination for a year in which she was everywhere (see also Digger & Project Hail Mary). If she were to win, she'd be the #1 of all time at the EFAs, since she's currently in a five way tie for most wins with other icons, namely Spain's Carmen Maura, the UK's Charlotte Rampling, and two French legends Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Huppert.  Reinsve (who won last year for Sentimental Value) and Cruz could both enter this amazing group tie with a second win. For trivia nitpickers please note that while it's true that Penelope Cruz has two EFAs already one was for a category that no longer exists "People's Choice for Best Actress". She won that for Don't Move but lost the main Best Actress category. Later she won Best Actress proper for Volver. But this prize could go anywhere really. Mathilde Arcel is brand new to the EFAs but she did take the Volpi Cup at Venice so she has that for momentum.

ACTOR

• Swann Arlaud (first nomination) for A Man of His Time
• Javier Bardem (3 noms, 1 win) for The Beloved
• Andrew Scott (first nomination) for Elsinore
• Sebastian Stan (first nomination) for Fjord
• Hanns Zischler (first nomination) for Fatherland

It's mostly newbies this time around. Andrew Scott has the most Oscar buzz at the moment but the EFAs are not the Oscars. Who do you think will win? 

SCREENWRITER

• Sandra Wollner, Everytime
• Pawel Pawlikowski, Fatherland
• Cristian Mungiu, Fjord
• Los Javis and Alberto Conejero, La Bola Negra
• Andrey Zvyagintsev & Simon Lyashenko, Minotaur

CINEMATOGRAPHER

• Frank van den Eeden, Coward
• Lukasz Zal (1 previous win) Fatherland
• Gris Jordana, La Bola Negra

Cinematography has gone in and out of being a regular nomination category but van den Eeden and Jordana are receiving their first honors. Zal won for Ida in a year in which there were no nominees, just winners. Zal also has two Oscar nominations to his name so he could factor into the upcoming Oscars given that the film is in black and white (catnip for voters). Coward and La Bola Negra both look spectacular so this is quite an impressive category all told. 

EDITOR

• Pawel Pawlikowski & Piotr Wójcik, Fatherland
• Alberto Gutiérrez, La Bola Negra
• Gesa Jäger, Yellow Letters

Yellow Letters was a major winner at Berlinale early in the year but at the German Film Awards this summer it only took home one prize (Score) despite 9 nominations. 

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

• Katarzyna Sobańska & Marcel Sławiński, Fatherland
• Roger Bellés, La Bola Negra
• Olivier Meidinger, Rose

COSTUME DESIGNER

• Ana López Cobos, La Bola Negra
• Doris Bartelt, Rose
• Rebecca Richmond & Jūlija Volkinšteine, Woman Unkown

SOUND

• Lars Ginzel & Tarn Willers, Fatherland
• Rodrigo Madrigal, Anna Harington, Alejandro Lopez & Mayte Cazorla, La Bola Negra
• Robert Farr, Lars Ginzel & Benjamin Hörbe, Naza

COMPOSER

• Alberto Iglesias (6 noms, 2 wins) for Bitter Christmas
• Volker Bertelmann, Bunker
• Tara Nome Doyle, Rose

While Bertelmann has recently become an Oscar favorite this is his first citation at the EFAs. Iglesias is a superstar at the EFAs and tied for first place in this category with Alexandre Desplat who has also won it twice. 

HAIR AND MAKEUP

• Pablo Morilllas & Mariló Osuna, La Bola Negra
• Evalotte Oosterop & Pierre-Olivier Persin, Coward
• Waldemar Pokromski, Fatherland

CASTING DIRECTOR

• Jessica Ronane, Elsinore
• Nina Haun & Magdalena Szwarcbart, Fatherland
• Eva Leira & Yolanda Serrano, La Bola Negra

YOUNG AUDIENCE AWARD

• Hold Onto Me (Cyprus/Greece)
• I Matter (Romania/Germany)
• Iron Boy (France/Belgium)

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY

• 17 (North Macedonia)
• At Night  (UK)
• Cute (Denmark/Norway)
• Flesh & Fuel (France/Poland)
• The Guest (Denmark)
• Thirteen in Gaza (Palestine / Qatar)

EUROPEAN SHORT FILM

• God is Shy (France)
• L'Mina (France/Morocco)
• Morning Circle (Germany/Canada/UAE)
• The End (Sweden/France/Denmark)
• Unleaded 95 (Germany/Austria)

ANIMATED FILM

• In Waves (France/Belgium)
• Iron Boy (France/Belgium)
• Jim Queen (France/Belgium)
• Lucy Lost (France)
• Viva Carmen (France)

This category is always interesting at the EFAs since there is so much animation happening in Europe that you wouldn't always know from Oscar's parallel category. It'll be interesting to see which of these prove eligible at the Oscars and which do not as it always feels somewhat rando. In Waves, which Netflix is distributing in the US, and Iron Boy, which Sony Pictures Classics have the rights to, are the most likely to be campaigned for the parallel Oscar honors. Of the two my preference is Iron Boy but they both have stunning and non-generic visual sensibilities.  

The unlucky toons that weren't nominated despite making the long list were Spain's Decorado, Ireland's Julian, and Germany's Monster Mia.

DOCUMENTARY

• Letters from a Silenced Country (Poland/Lithuania)
• Naza (UK)
• Rehearsals for a Revolution (Czech Republic, Spain)
• To Hold a Mountain (Montenegro/Serbia)
• Whispers in the Woods (France)

Whispers in the Woods, a nature documentary, won the César in France earlier this year but Naza surely has the highest profile given its international box office success, timely devastating topic, and distribution.