2023 European Film Award Winners (Updating Live)

The 36th European Film Awards have kicked off in Berlin with several of this year’s hottest award season contenders vying for the top honors from the European Film Academy.

Justine Triet’s acclaimed French courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall, Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest and Aki Kaurismäki dark, droll Finnish love story Fallen Leaves, all of which have received major awards buzz, are multiple nominees and all up for the top prize of best European film. Other best film nominees include Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano from Italy, and Agnieszka Holland’s Polish drama Green Border, both of which look at the refugee crisis on Europe’s borders.

Sandra Hüller is a double nominee in the best actress category, for her starring turns in The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall, and is going up against Fallen Leaves star Alma Pöysti; Leonie Benesch, nominated for İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge; Mia McKenna-Bruce, star of Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex; and Eka Chavleishvili for her starring role in Elene Naveriani’s Georgian drama Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry.

Hüller’s Zone co-star Christian Friedel is in the running for the best European actor honor, competing with Mads Mikkelsen for Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, Josh O’Connor for Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, Fallen Leaves co-star Jussi Vatanen and Thomas Schubert for Christian Petzold’s Afire.

EFA’s Excellence Awards, the craft section of the European Film Awards, were announced ahead of Saturday’s gala. Arcel’s 18th-century Danish Western The Promised Land picked up best cinematography honors for. J.A. Bayona‘s real-life drama Society of the Snow won best visual effects for Félix Bergés and Laura Pedrobest and best hair and make-up for Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé. The Zone of Interest won best sound design for Johnnie Burn and Tarn Willers, and Laurent Sénéchal took the best editing prize for his work on Anatomy of a Fall. Emita Frigato won the EFA for best production design for Rohwacher’s Italian drama La Chimera, and Markus Binder took best score for his soundtrack to Jessica Hausner’s health cult satire Club Zero starring Mia Wasikowska.

The European Film Academy also presented several filmmakers with honorary accolades. Spanish director Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me, The Bookshop) got the European Achievement in World Cinema Award. Oscar-winning British actress Vanessa Redgrave (Julia, Howards End) received the European Lifetime Achievement honor. Legendary Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr (The Turin Horse, Werckmeister Harmonies) was presented with the Honorary Award of the Academy President and Board, a rare achievement. Tarr is only the sixth filmmaker to be so honored, following directors Manoel de Oliveira, Andrzej Wajda and Costa-Gavras, and actors Michel Piccoli and Michael Caine.

The Euroimages European Co-Production Award, honoring excellence in cross-border film production, went to Lithuanian-based producer Uljana Kim. Through her company, Studio Uljana Kim, she has produced some 34 features and documentaries, almost all co-productions, including The Gambler (2013), Teesklejad (2016) and The Year Before the War (2021).

From outside the film business, Turkish executive Güler Sabancı, chairperson of Sabancı Holding, received the European Sustainability Award, for her philanthropic work to promote sustainability practices across multiple sectors.

Full list of winners for the 2023 European Film Awards

European Film

Anatomy of a Fall, dir. Justine Triet

Fallen Leaves, dir. Aki Kaurismäki

Green Border, dir. Agnieszka Holland

Io Capitano, dir. Matteo Garrone

The Zone of Interest, dir. Jonathan Glazer

European Documentary

Apolonia, Apolonia, dir. Lea Glob

Four Daughters, dir. Kaouther Ben Hania

Motherland, dir. Hanna Badziaka, Alexander Mihalkovich

On the Adamant, dir. Nicolas Philibert

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, dir. Anna Hints

European Director

Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall

Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves

Agnieszka Holland for Green Border

Matteo Garrone for Io Capitano

Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest

European Actress

Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall

Eka Chavleishvili in Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry

Alma Pöysti in Fallen Leaves

Mia McKenna-Bruce in How To Have Sex

Leonie Benesch in The Teachers’ Lounge

Sandra Hüller in The Zone of Interest

European Actor

Thomas Schubert in Afire

Jussi Vatanen in Fallen Leaves

Josh O’Connor in La Chimera

Mads Mikkelsen in The Promised Land

Christian Friedel in The Zone of Interest

European Screenwriter

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for Anatomy of a Fall

Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves

Maciej Pisuk, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko and Agnieszka Holland for Green Border

İlker Çatak and Johannes Duncker for The Teachers’ Lounge

Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI

20,000 Species of Bees, dir, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren

How To Have Sex, dir. Molly Manning Walker

La Palisiada, dir. Philip Sotnychenko

Safe Place, dir. Juraj Lerotić

The Quiet Migration, dir. Malene Choi

Vincent Must Die, dir. Stéphan Castang

European Animated Feature Film

A Greyhound of a Girl, dir. Enzo d’Alò

Chicken For Linda!, dir. Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach

Robot Dreams, dir. Pablo Berger

The Amazing Maurice, dir. Toby Genkel

White Plastic Sky, dir. Tibor Bánóczki, Sarolta Szabó

European Short Film

27, dir. Flóra Anna Buda
Aqueronte, dir. Manuel Muñoz Rivas

Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays, dir. Christian Avilés

Flores Del Otro Patio, dir. Jorge Cadena

Hardly Working, dir. Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf

European Cinematography

Rasmus Videbaek for The Promised Land

European Editing

Laurent Sénéchal for Anatomy of a Fall

European Score

Markus Binder for Club Zero

European Production Design

Emita Frigato for La Chimera

European Costume Design

Kicki Ilander for The Promised Land

European Visual Effects

Félix Bergés and Laura Pedrobest for Society of the Snow

European Hair and Make-Up

Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé for Society of the Snow

European Sound Design

Johnnie Burn and Tarn Willers for The Zone of Interest