The 24th Annual European Film Awards were announced during a ceremony in Berlin Saturday night and Lars Von Trier’s “Melancholia” dominated the show winning three awards including European Film (best film), European Cinematographer (Manuel Alberto Claro) and European Production Designer (Jette Lehmann).
Unlike the BAFTAs which feature a cross section of Academy and U.S. guild members, the European Film Awards have little connection or relevance to the U.S. awards season. 2,400 members vote on the awards and the last three European Film Award winners included “The Ghost Writer,” “The White Ribbon” and “Gmorrah.” The latter wasn’t even nominated for foreign language film and “White Ribbon” lost that category. Polanski’s excellent “Ghost Writer ” was completely overlooked by the Academy. The organization also has a strange calendar year which found “The King’s Speech” eligible for this year’s slate of awards. That lead to Colin Firth winning the European Actor award this year for the flick.
One awards season contender who could benefit in just a slight way is Tilda Swinton. The iconic actress was honored as European Actress for her work in “We Need To Talk About Kevin.” This is the second honor for her in two days after being named best actress by the National Board of Review. As most consultants, publicists and pundits will tell you, the fifth slot for best actress is wide open (Streep, Williams, Davis and Close should be the other four) and Swinton is certainly in play. Needless to say, Ooscilloscope Films can certainly use yet another adulation for Swinton as “Kevin” opens in New York and Los Angeles this Friday.
The complete list of this year’s European Film Award winners is as follows:
EUROPEAN FILM 2011:
“Melancholia” Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany
written and directed by Lars von Trier
Produced by Meta Louise Foldager & Louise Vesth
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2011:
Susanne Bier for “Haevnen”(“In a Better World)
“
EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2011:
Tilda Swinton in “We Need To Talk About Kevin”
EUROPEAN ACTOR 2011:
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2011:
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for “Le Gamin au Velo” (“The Kid with a Bike”)
CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2011:
Manuel Alberto Claro for “Melancholia”
EUROPEAN EDITOR 2011:
Tariq Anwar for “The King’s Speech”
EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2011:
Jette Lehmann for “Melancholia”
EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2011:
Ludovic Bource for “The Artist”
EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011:
“Adem” (“Oxygen”) by Hans Van Nuffel, Belgium/theNetherlands
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2011 – Pix ARTE:
“Pina” by Wim Wenders, Germany