Films from Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula or the Baltic nations: The European Film Awards reflect the continent's linguistic and cultural diversity. But there are still deficits in marketing for the European "Oscar."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Brakemeier
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A preview of the 31st European Film Awards
The awards stand in the shadows of the Oscars — wrongly, as the quality of the films is great. This year, the awards are being presented on December 15 in Seville. Here, we present some of the top contenders.
Image: Piffl Medien
The European 'Oscars' 2018
As with the Oscars, films are nominated in various categories at the European Film Awards — and the winners are determined on the evening of the award ceremony. The supreme nod is, of course, the best film prize, although here it is called "European Film 2018." Among the five nominees in the category is the poetic work "Happy as Lazzaro" directed by Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher.
Image: Piffl Medien
European multi-culturalism
In contrast to the Oscars, which center on English language films, the European Film Awards represent the linguistic diversity of the continent's cinema. The Swedish-Danish production "Border" has also been nominated for best film. In the fantasy film directed by Iranian-Swedish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, a woman working in a border agency discovers more about her own identity through a strange man.
Image: Meta/Spark&Kärnfilm/AB
European comedy
Europe also gets to laugh sometimes. Just like the Golden Globes, the European Film Awards feature a separate best comedy category. Three films are nominated this year, including the wonderful French comedy "C'est la vie!" by director duo Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. In the lead role of a wedding planner who faces a series of disasters, actor Jean-Pierre Bacri is, as always, magnificent.
Will she repeat her triumph at the German film awards on a European level? Marie Bäumer, who has received numerous awards for her performance as Romy Schneider in the film "3 Days in Quiberon," is one of six nominated actresses in the category "European Actress 2018." Bäumer's competitors include Joanna Kulig from Poland and Alba Rohrwacher from Italy.
Image: Getty Images/A. Rentz
Best actor
In the men's competition, the race is likely to be just as close. The Iceland-born Swedish actor Sverrir Pall Gudnason is one of six nominees. He's seen here (right) in his role as Björn Borg in the film "Borg/McEnroe." Gudnason's competitors come from Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Poland and Belgium.
The category "European Director 2018" also speaks for the great diversity of European culture. Five filmmakers have been nominated, including Samuel Maoz from Israel. Maoz enters the race for the prize with his film "Foxtrot." He competes against Ali Abbasi, among others, who was born in Iran. The origins of these two directors also stand for the cultural breadth of European filmmaking.
Image: DW/S. Hofmann
Best documentary
"Of Fathers and Sons" has been nominated for best documentary. Its director is Talal Derki, who was born in Damascus. The film has already won several awards for the film, including the German Documentary Film Prize and the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival in the US. Three of the five nominated documentaries are German co-productions.
Image: SWR
European discovery — Prix Fipresci
"Touch Me Not" has already grabbed one of the most important film prizes of the international festival scene. In February, Romanian director Adina Pintilie was awarded the Berlinale's Golden Bear for her work, which oscillates between experiment, documentary and feature film. Whether she really still belongs in the "European Discovery" category of the European Film Awards is debatable.
Image: Manekino Film, Rohfilm, Pink, Agitprop, Les Films de l'Etranger
These winners are clear!
On December 15, the winners of the nominated films will be named and presented at the gala in Seville. In categories such as camera, editing or costumes, the winners have already been selected. Good news for Germany: André Bendocchi-Alves and Martin Steyer garnered the award for best sound design for their work on the film "The Captain" by German Robert Schwentke.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Weltkino Filmverleih/Julia M. Müller
Best film music
The jury also decided that this year's most convincing film music came from two German composers: Christoph M. Kaiser and Julian Maas. Their score for the film "3 Days in Quiberon," about actress Romy Schneider, reflects a life that vacillated between enthusiasm, melancholy and grief.
Image: Rohfilm Factory/Prokino/Peter Hartwig
Honorary award I: Ralph Fiennes
Three greats of European film can also look forward to honorary prizes, which will be presented at the gala in Seville. "European Achievement in World Cinema" is the title of the award to be given to Briton Ralph Fiennes. Cinema fans know him from films such as "The English Patient," "The Constant Gardener" and "Schindler's List." Fiennes also appeared in Harry Potter and James Bond films.
Image: AP
Honorary award II: Carmen Maura
Spanish actress Carmen Maura will have a home game in Seville. The actor born in Madrid in 1945 will receive an award for her life's work. Maura became known to a larger audience in the 1980s through appearances in the films of Pedro Almodovar. Here, she starred alongside a young Antonio Bandera in "Matador," from 1986.
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Honorary award III: Constantin Costa-Gavras
Finally, Greek-French director Constantin Costa-Gavras will receive the prize called "Honorary Award of the EFA President and Board." It "is a tribute to a personality who, with a strong political voice, is not only deeply respected by colleagues, but also celebrated by audiences around the world," said the EFA Academy. Costa-Gavras' most famous film is "Z" from 1969.
Image: Hellas Film Box
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Europe can probably only blame itself. Why do the European Film Awards, to be awarded this Saturday, December 15 in Seville, Spain, remain in the shadow of the Oscars?
The American awards naturally have a longer tradition as they have been awarded since 1929. The European Film Awards, on the other hand, have only existed since 1988. Still, that means they have been around for 31 years. Word should have long gotten out that the Europeans also have "Oscars" of their own.
European cinema is more diverse
But that's not the case. Global media focuses on the Oscars long in advance of the ceremony, but not on the European Film Awards. Why is that? Certainly not due to the quality of the films. On the contrary, one could even claim that European cinema as a whole is much more diverse, colorful and artistically appealing than the English-speaking continent of North America — even if it is less commercially productive.
One of the five films nominated for best film: "Girl" Image: Kris De Witte
This shouldn't imply that some outstanding films haven't recently won Oscars — especially by Mexican directors working in Hollywood. The Oscar remains first and foremost a prize in the purely English-speaking film world: It is awarded primarily to films from Hollywood, sometimes also from other parts of the English-speaking world.
The European 'Oscar' models itself on the American Academy
So why do the European awards stand in the shadows of its role model? The awards on both continents share many categories, with best film, best actors, best cinematography, best costume design, and so on. In addition, the nomination procedure in the run-up and the tension on the evening of the award ceremonies is the same. Europeans also organize and present the gala with similar professionalism as that of their Los Angeles colleagues year after year.
Likewise up for best film, "Dogman"Image: festival-cannes
A "disadvantage" of Europeans is certainly their linguistic and cultural diversity. In this respect, the film award is a mirror of politics. When Europe sits at the negotiating table with the US, it is always difficult to speak with a single voice. Europe must continually pull itself together, and it does not have a uniform image. But why should this be disadvantageous in the field of culture, rather than seen as an advantage?
An attempt at understanding
Searching for explanations for the shadowy existence of the European Oscar, three notions emerge.
1. The United States has greater global pull when it comes to stars. A red carpet on which George Clooney or Julia Roberts walks is photographed a thousand times more than one on which Catherine Deneuve or Antonio Banderas appears. That has nothing to do with a lack of star appeal on the part of the Frenchwoman or the Spaniard. It simply has do with the global tabloid market, which formerly meant print and television, and nowadays means social media, which is fixated on English-language culture.
"Cold War": another nominee in the best film categoryImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Neue Visionen
2. Which brings us to the second point, the media. And that's where Europe has to be critical of itself. Much European media falls under the spell of US stars and Hollywood blockbuster cinema. That often has to do with money, but not only. Films rake in billions of dollars. But should this be the determining factor in an awards ceremony revolving around categories such as best film or best actress? Europe, and the European media in particular, should be much more self-confident.
3. So, we come to point three. Marketing. Here, Europeans are really lacking. The European Film Academy should also be more self-confident. In America, producers invest a lot of money in the Oscar hype in the run-up to the gala. Accordingly, Europeans would have to do much more to boost advertising and promote the European Film Awards with a targeted marketing concept. Only in this way can we Europeans understand the treasure that the continent's cinema holds.
