Emotional value sweeps European Film Awards | film

Director Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” bested its rivals at the European Film Awards on Saturday night, taking all five major awards at a ceremony in Berlin.

Sentimental Value, which won the top prize at Cannes last year, took home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenwriter and Best Actor for Stellan. Skarsgård and Best Actress for Renate Rensef, as well as Best Composer.

The Norwegian director’s victory will likely make his drama, about an aging film director (Skarsgård) trying to recruit his estranged daughter (Rensiv) for his latest work, a strong Oscar contender at the Academy Awards in March.

Cultural diversity is a value that the European Film Academy likes to consider its defining characteristic when compared to the more commercially successful, box office-oriented system of American films.

But the awards at EFA tend to crowd around one film that dominates the evenings. After taking home the all-night winner for Justine Tritt’s Anatomy of a Fall in 2023, and Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez in 2024, this year was no exception.

Sirāt, the road-trip thriller from Spanish director Olivier Lax, also enjoyed a strong night with five awards, including a sound design award for its energetic, brutal techno score.

Veteran Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” and German newcomer Masha Shilinski’s “The Sound of Falling,” both nominated in three categories, both had disappointing nights, with the former going home empty-handed and the latter taking home the award for Best Costume.

Panahi opened the ceremony with a speech about the recent political unrest in his homeland. “If we are disappointed by politicians, we should at least refuse to remain silent,” he said. “Because silence in times of crime is not neutrality. Silence is participation in darkness.”

The award for Best European Documentary went to Fiume o Morte, directed by Igor Bezinovic. In his home city of Rijeka, the Croatian director asked locals to reenact and reinterpret the 16-month occupation of their city by fascist dandy Gabriele D’Annunzio in 1919-1920.

The Discovery Award for Debut Feature Film went to Scotland-based Portuguese director Laura Carrera’s On Falling, set in an Amazon-style retail warehouse.

This year’s ceremony in the German capital was the first to be moved from December to January, in an attempt to establish the awards as a stronger player in their own right, rather than just a flagship of the American awards season.

Full list of awards

film Emotional value

documentary Fuyumi or Morti!

Animated feature film Arco

exit Joachim Trier on emotional value

Actress Renate Rainsvi for sentimental value

actor Stellan Skarsgård on sentimental value

screenwriter Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier on emotional value

discovery On falling

Young Audience Award Brothers

Casting director Nadia Asimi, Luis Bertolo and Maria Rodrigo for Sirat

Cinematographer Mauro Hersi for Serrat

Composer Hania Rani on emotional value

stylist Sabrina Kramer for The Sound of Falling

editor Cristobal Fernandez for Serrat

Makeup and hair artist Torsten Witt for Pogonia

Production designer Leah Attica for Sirat

Sound designer Laia Casanovas, Amanda Villavega and Yasmina Paraderas for Sairat

Short film City of poets

Eurimages International Co-Production Award Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski, Compliance Film

Achievement in the World Cinema Award Alice Rohrwacher

Lifetime Achievement Award Lev Ullman