PARASITE, BEANPOLE LEAD HONOUREES AT 2019 ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS

Adding further momentum towards anticipated Oscar glory, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite has claimed Best Feature Film at the 13^th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) last night in Brisbane, Australia. The breakout international success story of 2019 turned its single nomination into the night’s biggest prize, the first win for Korea in the Best Feature Film category since Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine took out the inaugural prize in 2007.

Producer Jang Young-hwan accepted the award (pictured, below), a unique handcrafted glass vessel by Brisbane artist Joanna Bone, on the night. The honour also comes as the Asia Pacific Screen Forum, running concurrently with the awards festivities, focuses on 100 years of Korean cinema.

Stories encompassing thirteen countries and areas within the vast Asia Pacific region were awarded, with the majority of the winners also being their country’s Official Submission for the Academy Awards® in the Best International Feature Film Category. Thirty-seven films from 22 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific region achieved nominations for the prestigious awards, drawn from the 289 films in APSA competition.

The Australian sector was honoured with the Best Youth Feature Film, the prize taken out by Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy, produced by Causeway Films’ Sam Jennings and Kristina Ceyton. The Khmer and Thai language film, shot in Cambodia, is the story of 14 year-old Cambodian Chakra who leaves home in search of a better life only to be enslaved on a fishing trawler. Co-directors Rachel Leah Jones and Phillipe Bellaiche’s Advocate, an Israeli production that recounts the story of Jewish Israeli human rights lawyer Lea Tsemel, beat the only other local nominee, Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream, for the Best Documentary trophy.

Director Kantemir Balagov’s Russian wartime drama Beanpole was the only film to take home two APSA awards - Best Cinematography honouree Ksenia Sereda (pictured, right), the first woman to win the APSA in this category, and Balagov and Alexander Terekhov for Best Screenplay. Best Director winner Adilkhan Yerzhanov, helmer of the Kazakh noir feature A Dark, Dark Man, was the focus of the Director’s Chair session at the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Forum and accepted the award on the night. It is his second award following the APSA NETPAC Development Prize win in 2013 (now the Young Cinema Award) for Constructors.

Acting trophies will be travelling to new homes in The Philippines and India. Max Eigenmann won Best Actress for her role as a woman fighting to free her life of domestic violence in Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s Verdict, for acclaimed producer Brilliante Mendoza. Celebrated Indian actor Manoj Baypayee earned Best Actor honours for his role in Devashish Makhija’s Bhonsle; Bajpayee’s win, his second APSA gong, marks a staggering four years in a row that an Indian performer has won in this category.

Beating out highly favoured fellow nominees The Unseen and Mosley, Weathering With You (Japan) was named Best Animated Feature. The film is directed by Makoto Shinkai, who also took home the inaugural APSA in this category in 2007 for 5 Centimetres Per Second.

The APSA International Jury awarded a Jury Grand Prize to Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, who wrote, directed, produced and starred in APSA-nominated film It Must Be Heaven. Suleiman was also awarded the APSA Jury Grand Prize in 2009 for The Time That Remains. The prestigious Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO was awarded to Rona, Azim’s Mother (Islamic Republic of Iran; Afghanistan) by brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmoudi. This award represents APSA’s founding partnership with UNESCO, and the shared goals of the two organisations in the protection and preservation of cultural identity.

The winner of the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film goes to Katriel Schory, one of the most respected figures of Israeli cinema. Schory produced more than 150 titles through is production company BelFilms Ltd and served for twenty years as Executive Director of Israel’s main film funding body, where he produced and promoted 300 films. He is credited with revitalising Israel’s film industry through an emphasis on diversity and international co-production treaties, opening the country’s cinema up to the global audiences.

The APSA Young Cinema Award has been won by emerging Indian filmmaker Ridham Janve whose feature The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain (pictured, above) was also nominated for Best Feature Film and Achievement in Cinematography.

Also announced during the APSA Ceremony were the four recipients of the 10^th MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. Created to support the development of new feature film projects by APSA Academy members, the fund awards four development grants of US$25,000 annually. In 2019, the four recipients are Delphine Garde-Mroueh & Nadia Eliewat (UAE/France) for The Station; Rachel Leah Jones (Israel/United States of America) for Reality Check; Catherine Fitzgerald (New Zealand) for Sweet Lips; and, Dechen Roder (Bhutan) for I, The Song.

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE CELEBRATES ISABELLE ADJANI WITH CLASSICS RETRO SEASON

The mighty screen presence of iconic French actress Isabelle Adjani will be celebrated at the 2019 Alliance Française Classic Film Festival, with a program of seven masterworks featuring the fierce, luminous talent of arguably France’s greatest screen star. The winner of a record five ‘Best Actress’ César Awards, Adjani has appeared in 30 films since her debut at the age of 14 in Bernard Toublanc-Michel’s Le petit bougnat (1970). Says Philippe Platel, the Alliance Française Classic Film Festival’s Artistic Director, “Throughout her internationally acclaimed career, there have contrasting ‘Adjanian’ heroines, at once rebellious and delicate, bold and shy, fire and ice. Defining Isabelle Adjani as a legend, the quintessence of a star, would not [be] sufficient to give a sense of the complexity that surrounds the ‘Mystère Adjani.’”

The retrospective season, featuring the films below, begins in Sydney on November 3, at the Palace Norton Street and Cremorne Orpheum cinemas; and, in Melbourne from November 10 at The Astor Theatre. Check the Alliance Française Classic Film Festival website for further venue and session details.   

THE STORY OF ADELE H. (L’histoire d’Adèle H.; 1975) Dir: François Truffaut
L’ intrigue: In 1863, Adèle Hugo (daughter of renowned French writer Victor Hugo) is in love with British lieutenant Albert Pinson (Bruce Robinson). Despite the Lieutenant rejecting her affections, Adèle’s obsession grows and she eventually succumbs to her wild delusions.
Histoire: After witnessing Adjani’s superb performance in Claude Pinoteau’s The Slap (1974), François Truffaut (pictured, right; with Adjani on-set) sought her for his next film, a historical drama upon the diary of Adèle Hugo. At only 19 years of age, Adjani earned an Academy Award nomination - the youngest ‘Best Actress’ nominee ever at the time.

POSSESSION (1981) Dir: Andrzej Zulawski
L’ intrigue: Faced with an impending divorce from his wife for no apparent reason, Mark (Sam Neill) sets out to uncover the truth behind his wife Anna’s erratic behaviour. He follows her as she descends into extremes of madness, only to discover his suspicions of infidelity have led to something far more sinister.
Histoire: This psychological horror drama defies easy classification and was delivered by one of the most revolutionary filmmakers to emerge from Poland after World War II, Andrzej Zulawski. Adjani’s performance garnered both César and Cannes Film Festival Awards for ‘Best Actress’.

ALL FIRED UP (Tout feu, tout flame; 1982) Dir: Jeau-Paul Rappeneau
L’ intrigue: Pauline (Adjani) is right to be suspicious when her absentee father reappears suddenly. The charming Victor (Montand) has returned to Paris to scrounge for money. A complex, occasional comical struggle emerges between the two and soon, both father and daughter are fending off mobsters.  
Histoire: Adjani and Yves Montand shine in this entertaining farcical thriller, enhanced by a great cast and an amazing soundtrack, composed by the famous French singer Michel Berger.

ONE DEADLY SUMMER (L’été meurtier; 1983) Dir: Jean Becker                                                    
L’ intrigue: The alluring Eliane Wieck moves to a sun-drenched provincial town in Southern France, where the local mechanic Pin-Pon (Alain Souchon), falls in love with her. They are soon married, yet circumstances around Eliane’s arrival remain mysterious. What prompted the family’s move? Is Eliane really in love?
Histoire: An adaptation of Sébastien Japrisot’s novel, this film garnered four Césars in 1983, including ‘Best Original Screenplay’ and ‘Best Editing’. Adjani delivers a captivating performance as a traumatised woman harbouring a terrible secret, which would earn her a second César.

QUEEN MARGOT (La Reine Margot; 1994; RESTORED VERSION) Dir: Patrice Chéreau
L’ intrigue: In 1572, tensions between Catholics and Protestants are at an all-time high. When Marguerite de Valois (Adjani), a Catholic woman, is forced to wed prominent Protestant Huguenot Henri of Navarre (Daniel Auteuil) a wave of increasingly shocking events unfold, culminating in the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
Histoire: Queen Margot was director Patrice Chéreau’s greatest success, winning the Jury Prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and five César Awards, including Adjani’s fourth ‘Best Actress’ Award. Raging with passion, sex and violence, Queen Margot is a powerful and provocative film.

SUBWAY (1985; SYDNEY ONLY) Dir: Luc Besson
L’ intrigue: Having stolen compromising documents from a shady businessman, Fred (Christophe Lambert), takes refuge in the Paris Metro. Here, he encounters a subterranean society of eccentric characters and petty criminals and develops a romance with a gangster's young trophy wife, Héléna (Adjani).
Histoire: An international blockbuster that launched Christophe Lambert, director Luc Besson and Adjani globally, the visually dazzling Subway was praised by The New York Times for its "highly energetic visual style". Lambert won a César for ‘Best Actor’; composer Eric Serra was nominated for ‘Best Sound’ Award. Good humour, superb music, wild 80s fashion and great acting make this unashamedly crowd-pleasing movie a must see.

CAMILLE CLAUDEL (1988; RESTORED VERSION) Dir: Bruno Nuytten      
L’ intrigue: Set at the beginning of the 1880s, this artistic triumph recounts the tumultuous relationship between Claudel and sculptor Auguste Rodin (Gérard Depardieu)., While it captures the mad genius of Rodin, it also profiles an ambitious woman who is driven to insanity and imprisoned by the societal conventions of her time.                                     
Histoire: In her role as co-producer, Adjani hired Bruno Nuytten (with whom she shares a son) as director of this multi-award winning film, a sensual and impassioned biopic now considered a classic. It would earn five Césars and Adjani a second ‘Best Actress’ nomination at the Academy Awards.

SENEGAL

Senegalese cinema was once the leading production sector on the African continent. The French-influence that permeates the upper-class urban centres and the passion and plight of the native population have combined to lasting effect since the film industry launched in Senegal with Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s 1955 short film L’Afrique sur Seine.

Vieyra (pictured, above) would remain a vocal advocate of Senegal’s representation on-screen with his documentary work, including Mol (1957), Indépendance du Cameroun, Togo, Congo, Madagascar (1960) and En résidence surveillée (Under House Arrest, 1981). His contemporary at the forefront of the post-independence Senegalese film industry was the man that has been called ‘The Father Of African Cinema’ – Ousmane Sembene. Many believe his death in 2007 represents the symbolic end of an era when Senegalese movies and the rich filmmaking culture from which they came sadly passed.

Sembene (pictured, right) was responsible for over three decades of impassioned filmmaking, despite coming late to the field of film directing – he was 37 when he returned home after learning his craft in Moscow. His debut production was the short film Barom Sarret (The Wagoner, 1963), regarded as the first film to be made by a black African filmmaker. He directed the first black African feature film, La noire de... (Black Girl, 1966) and would be responsible for some of the most respected and internationally-acclaimed African films ever made – Mandabi (The Money Order, 1968, shot in the native Wolof dialect), Tauw (1970), Emitai (God of Thunder, 1971, with dialogue in both French and the native Diola language), Xala (The Curse, 1975), Ceddo (Outsiders, 1977), Camp de Thiaroye (The Camp at Thiaroye, 1987) and, most significantly, Moolaade (2004; trailer, below), his powerful indictment of the brutal practice of female circumcision, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival  and the Best Foreign Film award from the National Board of Film Critics (U.S.).

Sembene’s early work not only fuelled the industry in Senegal but focussed the international community on the resources and talent in the region. His exposure is credited with kick-starting the film industries in satellite countries such as Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and Mauritania.

Strong filmmaking visions came from Senegal throughout the 1970’s, benefitting from the guidance of notable talents from France. For example, filmmaker Jean Rouch encouraged the early short film projects of Safi Raye, a Senegalese woman who would become the first female director of a feature length film in the region, 1975’s Kaddu Beykat (Letter From My Village). Djibril Diop Mambéty was an outspoken filmmaker whose works of social realism and political drama often brought him into direct conflict with the ruling government – his early shorts Contras City (1969) and Badou Boy (1970) were satirical comments on the rich/poor dichotomy of life in the capital, Dakkar; his first feature, Touki Bouki (Journey Of The Hyena, 1973; pictured, above) took a similarly comical but no less impactful look at the clash of the traditional and the modern. Twenty years later, Mambéty would revisit the villages of Senegal with a far sharper focus with Hyènes (Hyenas, 1993; trailer, below), a forthright blasting of Western culture in general and the World Bank in particular for creating dire poverty in Senegal, but also to the Senegalese people for embracing consumerism so blindly. The film was nominated for the Palme D’or at Cannes in 1994.

Rising costs, the threat of terrorism and the scourge of poverty took its toll on the Senegalese film sector from the early 1980s and remains a hinderance today. Safi Raye continued producing films, but few were released in her homeland, screening mainly in Europe; journalist-turned-filmmaker Ben Diogaye Beye debuted his film Seye Seyeti (A Man Some Women) in 1980 to festival recognition, but he would not direct again until 2004’s Un amour d’enfant (pictured, below); Jean Odoutan’s feelgood comedy-drama Barbecue-Pejo (2000) was a rare success. And Ousmane Sembene had the reputation to finance films in his native Senegal, but funds came from and profits went back to international financiers, who funded his work for the global arthouse marketplace. With its capital Dakkar sorely lacking studio and cinema space and all post-production facilities located offshore, Senegal‘s film artisans went through a period of stagnating creativity. 

For the last decade, a fresh brigade of filmmakers have begun to emerge. These include such directors as Moussa Toure (La Pirogue, 2012), Alain Gomis (Felicite, 2017, winner of the Berlinale Grand Jury Prize) Laurence Gavron (So Far from Vietnam, 2016), Moustapha Saitque (Waiting for the Third Prophet, 2016), Samba Gadjigo (Sambene, 2017; On Black Girl, 2017), and Ousmane William Mbaye (Kemtiyu Seex Anta, 2016). In 2017, the annual subsidy granted by President Macky Sall to Senegalese cinema increased to two billion CFA francs (3 million euros). French director Philippe Godeau and star Omar Sy utilised the land and many local technicians for their film Yao (2018; trailer, below).

In 2019, hope for the future of Senegalese cinema is at an all-time high, with the announcement that director Mati Diop, niece of the legendary Djibril Diop Mambéty, will be the first black woman director to have her film, the drama Atlantique, run In Competition in the 72 year history of the Cannes Film Festival.

Read the Screen-Space Feature 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MATI DIOP here.

Key Event:
Dakar International Film Festival (RECIDAK) – Dakar, Senegal; annually in November.
The Rencontres International Cinématographiques de Dakar was initiated in 1990 by Annette Mbaye D'Erneville through its structure called the Consortium of Communication in Africa (CCA). The idea was to create this event around the 7th art in partnership with the French Ministry of Cooperation and authorities of the Francophonie and show the true identity of Senegal, which is the soul of African cinema. In November 2018, directors, producers, film teachers and art critics attended, with 59 films from 32 countries presented.

Contact:
Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication du Sénégal
Building Adja Fatou Diop Nourou
12 ^th  sis Floor Allées Papa Gueye FALL  
Tel: (+221) 33 849 03 38
Web: http://www.culture.gouv.sn/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinisteredelaCultureduSenegal
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CultureGouv

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BERLINALE: FILMS OF THE PACIFIC NATIONS CELEBRATED IN NATIVE 2019

Of all the special screening series that unfurl across the Berlin Film Festival program, none are as valuable to global cinema as NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema. The biennial event rolls around again in 2019, under the curatorial eye of New Zealand ex-pat Maryanne Redpath and co-programmer Anna Kalbhenn, with the films of the Pacific region the focus of this year’s strand. Some of the Asia Pacific sector’s most respected film figures are on board as advisors, including Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini (The Seen and Unseen, 2017); Palawán-Filipino director Kanakan-Balintagos (a Berlin Crystal Bear recipient for 2005’s Ang pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros); and, Samoan-born Eliorah Malifa, co-director of the Pasifika Film Fest. 

The NATIVe 2019 line-up is as diverse as the cultures of the Island nations, yet bonds the people of the Pacific in their depiction of hope, family, strength and humanity.

BUSONG (Dir: Kanakan-Balintagos; with Alessandra de Rossi, Rodrigo Santikan, Clifford Banagale; Philippines, 2011) From the Program: “Using his Palawan name Kanakan-Balintagos, award-winning director Auraeus Solito traces the legends of his homeland, connecting myths with the contemporary stories of people who are all suffering the consequences of colonisation, pollution and disease. The director unfolds his tale in a series of long takes that include stunning, almost painterly images of landscapes; the protagonists who enter his narrative are all guided by ‘busong’. This Palawan word refers to fate – something that no individual can control.”

FOR MY FATHER’S KINGDOM (Dirs: Vea Mafile'o, Jeremiah Tauamiti; New Zealand, 2019) WORLD PREMIERE. From the Program: “What does it cost to preserve one’s culture and faith in the diaspora? The children of Saia Mafile’o can provide an actual figure because their father surrenders all his income to the Wesleyan church of Tonga. ‘Misinale’ is the name of the fundraising campaign that calls on people in and from Tonga to raise money for the community. In long, dialogue-rich shots, this documentary explores how the church, Tongan culture and traditions can hold a family together but also be a burden.”
Screens with the short film Toa`ipuapuagā Strength in Suffering (pictured, right; Dir: Vea Mafile'o): A young Samoan woman displayed cuts on her body and began to bleed prior to having a near-death experience on Easter Sunday. For many Christians in Samoa, her experience has been perceived as an expression of God’s displeasure.

MABABANGONG BANGUNGOT (THE PERFUMED NIGHTMARE; Dir: Kidlat Tahimik; with Kidlat Tahimik, Hartmut Lerch; Philippines / Germany, 1977) From the Program: “Kidlat Tahimik’s 1977 cult film is about crossing bridges. A bridge connects his native village Balian in the Philippines with the rest of the world; the young Kidlat dreams of a bridge to the moon and, when he arrives in Paris as a migrant worker, he is inspired by the architecture of bridges. This self-taught filmmaker’s cinematic debut was the first Philippine film to make it into cinemas in Germany. Celebrated by international film critics as a milestone in postcolonial filmmaking, it is a work rich in idiosyncratic aesthetics and political themes.”

MERATA: HOW MUM DECOLONISED THE SCREEN (Dir: Hepi Mita; New Zealand, 2018; pictured, top) From the Program: “As the archivist of Merata Mita’s work, her youngest son Hepi Mita embarks on a journey through his mother’s life. Creating a dialogue between her work as a filmmaker and her personal life, his unique excavation reveals how deeply connected the personal, the political, and the creative were for the late Merata Mita (1942–2010), Aotearoa’s first female Maori director. This documentary does not only shed light on a resilient woman who fought for her goal to ‘indigenise the screen’ - it also reveals the strain this kind of political work was to have on her family.”

ONE THOUSAND ROPES (Dir: Tusi Tamasese; Frankie Adams, Uelese Petaia, Sima Urale; New Zealand, 2017; pictured, right) From the Program: “Set against the grey backdrop of a Wellington suburb, this film describes the effects of a violent history and the discrimination experienced by many Samoan migrants during the 1970s. Somehow, the past is always present. Juxtaposing quietness with moments of violent outbursts and animated sequences, director Tusi Tamasese and cinematographer Leon Narbey have created a visually evocative story of one man’s attempt to address his past wrongs in order to build a more hopeful future.”

OUT OF STATE (Dir: Ciara Lacy; USA, 2017) From the Program: “Doing time in prison might give you access to your traditions and roots, but how can you take that home after your release? This documentary describes two working-class Kanaka Maoli men who make the emotional journey back home to their families in Hawai’i.”
Screens with short film Stones (Dir: Ty Sanga): Nihipali and Naʻiwi are the only Mū spirits left in their Hawai’ian forest. When Nihipali encounters a human child, the veil between the spirit and human worlds is lifted.

SHE WHO MUST BE LOVED (Dir: Erica Glynn; Australia 2018) From the Program: “Freda Glynn was never a big talker but these days she talks even less. When her documentary filmmaker daughter Erica Glynn tells her she wants to make a film about her, Freda responds simply with a shrug. And yet Freda, a pioneer of the Indigenous media landscape in Australia, has much to relate. Family and art, history and stories all merge in this intimate portrait of a strong-willed woman. Together, Freda and Erica Glynn embark on a complex search for answers.”

TANNA (Dirs: Martin Butler and Bentley Dean; with Mungau Dain, Marie Wawa, Marceline Rofit, Chief Charlie Kahla, Albi Nangia; Australia, 2015; pictured, right) From the Program: “Tanna, an island in the Republic of Vanuatu, is the setting for a clash between the Yakel and Imedin tribes when, amidst preparations for her Imedin initiation ritual into womanhood, Wawa steals away with Dain, grandson of the Yakel chief. Based on real events that took place during the 1980s and shot entirely in the Nauvhal language, Tanna was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017.”

VAI (Dirs: by Nicole Whippy, 'Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki, Matasila Freshwater, Amberley Jo Aumua, Mīria George, Marina Alofagia McCartney, Dianna Fuemana and Becs Arahanga; with Mereani Tuimatanisiga, 'Ar-Ramadi Longopoa, Betsy Luitolo, Agnes Pele, Evotia-Rose Araiti; New Zealand, 2019) WORLD PREMIERE. From the Program: “For Vai, life on the South Pacific Islands is characterised by the constant tension between change and repetition and between moving to different places and returning to the traditions of her ancestors. Her world lies somewhere between Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Fiji, the Cook Islands, Niue and Aotearoa, and it is shaped by environmental threats, isolation, scarcity of resources and a tense relationship to New Zealand. This delicate portrait of Vai’s life journey celebrates the strength of female kinship, of community, and a sense of responsibility for future generations.”

A session of short films will also screen, featuring Justine Simei-Barton and Nikki Si'ulepa's Snow in Paradise (New Zealand, 2001); Amie Batalibasi's Blackbird (Australia, 2015); Jeremiah Tauamiti's Liliu (New Zealand, 2018); Tusi Tamasese's Va Tapuia (New Zealand, 2009); and, Kamila Andini's Memoria (Indonesia, 2016)

NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema will screen February 7-17 at two venues, Cinestar IMAX and Cubix 7, as part of Berlinale 2019. Tickets and session details can be found at the strand’s official website.

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY WARMS TO COLD WAR

Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War earned top honours at the 31^st European Film Awards (EFA), held on December 15 in Seville, Spain. The Polish filmmaker’s tragic love story, loosely based on the turbulent and rebellious life led by his parents, took home five of the top categories before a live audience of 1,600 guests and industry figures at the historic Teatro de la Maestranza.

In addition to the Best European Film award, the Polish/French/U.K. co-production secured Best Director and Best Screenwriter trophies for Pawlikowski (pictured, above), returning to the winner’s podium for the first time since 2014, when his film Ida dominated the ceremony. “I’d like to thank my parents for living a disastrous and ultimately beautiful life,” said the 61 year-old filmmaker, who also acknowledged the unified front represented by those present. “Today we celebrate our differences, we unite in our diversity. Europe is not one voice, but a choir of different voices.”

Slated as Poland’s entry in the Best Foreign Film Oscar category, the monochromatic drama also won Best Actress for Joanna Kulig, and Best Editing for Jarosław Kamiński. The EFAs add to a growing list of accolades for Cold War that include the Cannes Film Festival Best Director award and the Best Foreign Film honour from America’s National Board of Review. 

The film was denied an EFA clean sweep when leading man Tomasz Kot lost to Marcello Fonte for his understated performance in Matteo Garrone’s Dogman. which also found favour in the Costume and Hair & Make-Up categories. Martin Otterbeck won Best Cinematographer for the Norwegian drama Utøya: July 22, a harrowing survival tale based upon the mass shooting at the political summer camp in 2011.

Other winners included Lukas Dhont’s Girl for European Discovery; Jane Magnusson’s Bergman- A Year in a Life for Best Documentary; Another Day Of Life from directors Damian Nenow and Raúl De La Fuente for Best Animated Feature; Andrey Ponkratov for his production design on Summer (Leto); sound designers André Bendocchi-Alves and Martin Steyer 
for the German film The Captain; and, visual effects veteran Peter Hjorth for his work on Ali Abbasi’s Border.

Honorary EFAs were bestowed upon beloved Spanish actress Carmen Maura, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Oscar-winning Greek auteur Costa-Gavras (Z, 1969; Missing, 1982), who accepted the EFA Honorary Award. The audience-voted People’s Choice EFA went to Luca Guadagnino’s coming-of-age romance Call Me By Your Name.

The shadow cast by the United Kingdom’s ‘Brexit’ movement was addressed by two of the most respected and outspoken statesmen of Britain’s film community. Upon receiving the Best European Comedy award for The Death of Stalin, writer/director Armando Iannuci earned big laughs when he stated, “This is a European film. I’m Scottish/Italian, shot mostly in England, were financed by the French, did a lot of our post-production in Belgium. It just shows what a good idea it is if different countries in Europe come together to work with the British. Let’s call it a European community, a European union. I’m going to take the idea back to the United Kingdom this evening.”

Past Best Actor EFA winner Ralph Fiennes (Sunshine, 1999), present to accept the honorary European Achievement in World Cinema award, was harsher in his condemnation of his homeland’s current political climate. “Can I be English and European? Emphatically yes. There is a crisis in Europe and our feeling of family, of connection and of shared history, shared wounds - this feeling is threatened by a discourse of division. In England now, there is only the noise of division.”

In line with the sense of celebration central to the kudocast, Fiennes ended on a hopeful note. “But the expression in a film can be a window for us to see another person, another human experience,” he said. “We can celebrate our differences of custom and common humanity at the same time.”