Massive Awards Roundup: "Movies for Grown-Ups", EFA, BIFA, Astra

by Nathaniel R

Image of the nominees for BIFA's "INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM", all but one of which are also up for the top prize at EFA

The Thanksgiving holidays are typically the busiest screening times for awards voters who aren't Academy members. Many of the big mainstream groups as well as the regional critics awards will be cramming movies in before their December announcements. (Academy voters can of course wait for the Christmas break to catch up before their ballots are due) Naturally then some groups vote yet earlier than Thanksgiving because so many love to be "first" and December is all-announcements-all-the-time. So here are four groups that announced in November: BIFA, EFA, AARP, and HCA. Given their different purviews (British Films, European Films, mostly American Films with a focus on film artists of a certain age, mostly American films with a focus on Oscar buzz) there's not a ton of overlap across all four. But the two buzziest International Oscar contenders Sentimental Value and It Was Just An Accident  were honored by all four groups even if it was just a single nomination from BIFA for both).

Let's start with the 50+ set before moving to Europe and back to Hollywood...

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Weekend Awards Wrap-Up: LAFCA, EFA, BIFA, and more!

by Cláudio Alves

ANORA is consolidating its position as a Best Picture frontrunner. Mikey Madison nears lock status, too, but Best Actress is a more volatile race.

The season has started in full, which means an avalanche of awards coming our way every single day. It's impossible to keep up, so we'll be doing these weekend wrap-ups from now on – like last year, sort of. The past few days saw such groups as Gotham Awards, the NYFCC, and the NBR handing out their honors. All of those have posts of their own, but there's still more to consider. For example, this Sunday was busy as all hell, with the LA, Boston, and Washington, DC, critics announcing their winners. At the same time, across the Atlantic, the British Independent Film Awards held their annual ceremony. That last one is exciting because it's one of the few industry awards we get before the onslaught of guild nominations. One can say the same about the European Film Award and the International Documentary Association. Discover their victors, after the jump…

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"The Room Next Door" and "Emilia Perez" lead the EFA Nominations

by Nathaniel R

Nominations are in the for 37th annual European Film Awards which will take place on December 7th in approximately one month's time. You may recall that last year was dominated by Anatomy of a Fall which took home six awards (Film, Director, Actress, Screenplay, and special awards like Editing and the European University Film Award). It also proved popular with Oscar voters. Here are your nominees for the 2024 prizes. The awards ceremony moves each year. In December it moves to Switzerland for the first time. Oscar hopefuls The Room Next Door (hitting US theaters in December) and Emilia Perez (which hits Netflix next week) lead the nominations with four citations each. International Feature Film Oscar contenders like Denmark’s The Girl with the Needle, Germany’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Italy’s Vermiglio, Latvia’s Flow, Norway’s Armand and Senegal’s Dahomey were also popular with voters, scoring multiple nominations. 

Although people don't tend to think of the EFAs as an Oscar precursor, their collective taste does align fairly well with Oscar voters. It's been 9 years, for example since the winning film wasn't also Oscar nominated for either Best Picture and/or Best International Feature Film...

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European Film Awards: "Anatomy of a Fall" Sweeps!

by Cláudio Alves

Photo by Sebastian Gabsch | © European Film Awards

The European Film Academy loves itself a sweep, and this year did nothing to disprove their inclination. At the same time it keeps winning critics honors stateside, Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall took home four prizes, adding to the trophy it already earned for editing. Sandra Hüller even defeated herself since she was also nominated for The Zone of Interest, a first in EFA history. In her speech, the actress asked her audience to imagine peace in these troubled times while her director joked that making the film was a test on her relationship with partner and co-screenwriter Arthur Harari. The ceremony took place in Berlin this year, presided by Agnieszka Holland and host Britta Steffenhagen. 

Discover the complete list of honorees after the jump…

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"Fallen Leaves" and "The Zone of Interest" lead the EFA nominations

by Cláudio Alves

Because of their specific focus and disconnection from the mainstream release calendar, the European Film Awards are rarely seen as part of the long road to Oscar. Then again, there's always the exception that proves the rule, and this year is exceptional, alright. Many Academy Award contenders showed up across the board, even beyond those submitted for the Best International Film category. Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest and Aki Kaurismäki's Fallen Leaves, for instance, scored nominations for Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, and Screenplay. Sandra Hüller even managed to double-dip, getting recognized for this Nazi nightmare and her turn in Justine Triet's Palme d'Or winner, Anatomy of a Fall.

Discover the complete list of European Film Awards nominations, plus some additional commentary, after the jump…

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