The European Film Academy celebrated its annual award ceremony this weekend. Seven EU-funded movies were among the winners, including the 2017 Best Film The Square, which garnered six awards in total.
The Square, by Swedish director Ruben Östlund, was the main winner of the 2017 European Film Awards. This satire about an art installation, supported by the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe, has already won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and is a front-runner for the upcoming Oscars in the foreign language category.
As well as winning the award for best film, The Square was also rewarded in the categories of best comedy, leading actor (Claes Bang), production designer (Josefin Åsberg), and director and scriptwriter, the latter two going to Östlund.
Six other films supported by the MEDIA sub-programme were also among the laureates at the 30th edition of the awards, during a gala celebrated on Saturday evening in Berlin. The event attracted film celebrities like Juliette Binoche, Stephen Frears, Stellan Skarsgård and Wim Wenders, the current president of the European Film Academy (EFA).
There were wins in the categories of best leading actress, editor, costume designer, animation and discovery, as well as the People’s Choice Award. The latter went to the biographical film Stefan Zweig – Farewell to Europe, about the life of the Austrian writer.
Actress Alexandra Borbély was recognised for her role in the Hungarian film On Body and Soul, the love story of a woman with Asperger’s Syndrome. The movie also clinched a Golder Bear at the latest Berlinale.
The prize for best costume design went to Katarzyna Lewińska for her work in Spoor. This Polish thriller also won the Silver Bear in the Berlinale this year.
Director Robin Campillo was awarded best editor for his movie 120 battements par minute, about the struggle of an AIDS activist group in Paris in the 1990s. The film was also among the three finalists of the European Parliament’s LUX Prize.
Director William Oldroyd got the prize for best first long film for his Lady Macbeth. The film is based on the Russian novel Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, which also inspired the famous opera of the same name by Shostakovich.
An animation by 125 painters
Best animation went to Loving Vincent, which brings the paintings of Van Gogh to the silver screen in the first fully painted animated film. 125 painters from all over the world hand-painted the 65,000 frames of the feature in studios in Greece and Poland.
The academy also granted a lifetime achievement award to Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov. Another protagonist of the evening was French actress and filmmaker Julie Delpy, recognised with the prize of European achievement in world cinema.
In total, 16 films supported by the MEDIA sub-programme were nominated for EFA awards in different categories. Overall, EU funding for these productions amounted to €6.5 million.
Each year, MEDIA supports around 2,000 European projects in film, television, and other audiovisual works, which are distributed digitally in cinema, on television and through video on demand.
by María Fernández García, CEND
