‘Youth’ Tops European Film Award Nominations

The nominations for the 2015 European Film Awards were announced in Seville, Spain. Paolo Sorrentino’s English-language Youth lead the field with five mentions- Film, Director, Screenwriter as well as pair of acting nods for the films’ Oscar winning stars Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) and Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener). The Oscar hopeful debuted at Cannes this year and will be released next month by Fox Searchlight. The EFA have been presented annually since 1988 celebrating the finest achievement of European cinema- the awards are voted on by members of the European Film Academy.

While mentions here tend to have little resonance with the Oscars, several recent films have taken home both the top prize at the European Film Awards as well as the foreign language Oscar (Ida, The Great Beauty, Amour). Such nominees at this years event that are foreign film hopefuls include A Pigeon Sat on Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden), Mustang (France) and Rams (Ireland). Check out the nominees below.

EUROPEAN FILM

• A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden, France, Germany, Norway)- directed by Roy Andersson
• Mustang (France, Germany, Turkey)- directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven
• Rams (Iceland, Denmark)- directed by Grímur Hákonarson
• The Lobster (UK, Ireland, Greece, Netherlands)- directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• Victoria (Germany)- directed by Sebastian Schipper
• Youth (Italy, France, UK, Switzerland)- directed by Paolo Sorrentino

EUROPEAN COMEDY

• A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden, France, Germany, Norway)- directed by Roy Andersson
• The Bélier Family (France)- directed by Eric Lartigau
• The Brand New Testament (Belgium, France, Luxembourg)- directed by Jaco Van Dormael

EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY

• A Syrian Love Story (UK)- directed by Elhum Shakerifar
• Amy (UK)- directed by Asif Kapadia
• Dancing with Maria (Italy, Argentina, Slovenia)- directed by Ivan Gergolet
• The Look of Silence (Denmark, Norway, Indonesia)- directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
• Toto and His Sisters (Romania, Hungary)- directed by Alexander Nanau

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR

• Roy Andersson, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
• Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster
• Nanni Moretti, My Mother
• Sebastian Schipper, Victoria
• Paolo Sorrentino, Youth
• Małgorzata Szumowska, Body

EUROPEAN ACTOR

• Michael Caine, Youth
• Tom Courtenay, 45 Years
• Colin Farrell, The Lobster
• Christian Friedel, 13 Minutes
• Vincent Lindon, The Measure of a Man

EUROPEAN ACTRESS

1. Margherita Buy, My Mother
2. Laia Costa, Victoria
3. Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
4. Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
5. Rachel Weisz, Youth

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER

• Roy Andersson, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting Existence
• Alex Garland, Ex Machina
• Andrew Haigh, 45 Years
• Radu Jude & Florin Lazarescu, Aferim!
• Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou, The Lobster
• Paolo Sorrentino, Youth