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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European Film Awards: Festival Darlings score big in the Craft Categories

Cláudio Alves

Last month, the European Film Academy announced their nominations in the above-the-line categories, with The Zone of Interest and Fallen Leaves in the lead. Now, it was a time for the winners of their craft prizes, also known as the Excellence Awards. These honors are decided by a jury of eight from a pool of selected titles, and this year, there was some double-dipping afoot. Both The Promised Land and Society of the Snow scored two prizes, while the remaining awards were divided among pictures that premiered in competition at Cannes – Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, La Chimera, and Club Zero…

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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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Sunday Short(s): A few films that we might see on the finalist list

by Nathaniel R

We've been meaning to launch a small but sweet "short" series for a long time. But alas, despite the tiny nature of the beast, we haven't. On December 21st, we'll hear which 30 eligible shorts Oscar voters favor across the Documentary, Animated and Live-Action flavors and we'll have a good excuse to dig in a bit more. With all golden categories back on the broadcast for the 95th Oscars (yay!) we should highlight the three miniature categories in someway!

Sadly, the Academy has gotten less transparent over the past handful of years. They no longer release their eligibility lists in the shorts categories. We are sometimes able to get approximations of the lists from various sources but it's not the same thing as having an "official" list. Nevertheless we believe the following five shorts are eligible and we've seen them so let's briefly discuss...

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2014 European Film Awards Nominations

Manuel here bringing you some more awards talk from across the Atlantic. 

Ida, the nomination leader with 5 citationsTis the season for awards and so before we could even digest those British Independent Film Awards nominations, here come the European Film Awards to dole out their own. They bring great news to several Best Foreign Language Oscar hopefuls. Poland's Ida, Russia's Leviathan, Sweden's Force Majeure, Italy's Human Capital, Turkey's Winter Sleep, Austria's The Dark Valley, and Belgium's Two Days, One Night are all well represented. Take a look at the below-the-line categories and you'll find a number of welcome inclusions (one must give respect to any awards body which gives Mica Levi an award for his hauntingly discordant score for Under the Skin). Kudos to the TFE team who have reviewed all the films up for 2014 European Film.

27th European Film Awards Nominations

European Film 
Force Majeure
Ida
Leviathan
Nymphomaniac Director’s Cut – Volume I & II
Winter Sleep 

Catch the full list of nominations after the jump.

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