Oscar Contenders ‘Zone of Interest,’ ‘Io Capitano,’ ‘Fallen Leaves’ Among 2023 European Film Award Nominees

Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest leads the nominations for this year’s European Film Awards (EFAs), picking up five nominations, including for best film and best director, in nominations announced via video on Tuesday.

Zone of Interest, the U.K. official entry for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category, also scored EFA nominations for best screenwriter, for Glazer, and best actress and best actor noms for leads Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel.

Hüller will be competing against herself in the best actress category, having picked up a second EFA nom for her starring role in Justine Triet’s courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall. The Palme d’Or winner recieved four EFA noms, including for best European Film, best director for Triet and best screenplay for Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari.

Other best European film nominees include Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano from Italy, and Aki Kaurismäki’s Finnish romantic drama Fallen Leaves, official Oscar submissions from their respective countries, alongside Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, a black-and-white feature on the plight of migrants caught on the border between Poland and Belarus. Green Border came under fire from Poland’s previous far-right government — Poland’s justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro compared the movie to ‘Nazi propaganda’ — and was not picked for the Oscar race.

Holland, Kaurismäki and Garrone all recieved best director nominations, alongside Glazer and Triet.

Competing against Hüller in the best actress race will be Fallen Leaves star Alma Pöysti, Leonie Benesch, who plays an educator under pressure in İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, Germany’s 2024 Oscar hopeful, Mia McKenna-Bruce for Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex, and Eka Chavleishvili for her starring role in Elene Naveriani’s Georgian drama Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry.

Alongside Zone lead Christian Friedel, best actor contenders include Fallen Leaves‘ Jussi Vatanen, Mads Mikkelsen for Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, Josh O’Connor for Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, and Thomas Schubert for Christian Petzold’s Afire.

Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s transgender drama 20,000 Species of Bees, The Quiet Migration from Malene Choi, Juraj Lerotić’s Croatian drama Safe Place, Philip Sotnychenko’s La Palisiada, and Stéphan Castang’s mircoagression thriller Vincent Must Die were all nominated for the European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI for best debut feature.

The 4,600 members of the European Film Academy voted on this year’s nominations, based on “the excellent quality of each film” and reflecting the diversity and inclusion standards of the European Film Academy. The winners of the 2023 European Film Awards will be announced in Berlin on December 9.

Full list of nominees for the 2023 European Film Award

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