‘Hollywood has stopped making films for adults’: Sentimental Value and Sirāt compete for European Film Awards – and Oscars set to take into account | film

TThe European Film Awards have long styled themselves as “Europe’s answer to the Oscars”, even if they have little influence when it comes to boosting commercial successes at the box office. But with American studios increasingly prioritizing series films over serious drama, and European films competing for major awards outside the “Best International Feature” silo, EFAs are feeling emboldened to become major makers of adult cinema.

This year, the European Film Academy for the first time moved its annual ceremony from December to the middle of the awards season in the United States, between the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

“Hollywood has stopped making adult films, with some exceptions,” said Scott Roxborough, European bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter. “This leaves room for the Europeans, who make films for adults only.”

The 38th edition of the awards, taking place at Berlin’s House of World Cultures on Saturday, could be a night of triumphs for Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s family drama, Sentimental Value, which is nominated in five categories including best European film.

This tale of family estrangement and artistic rivalry has already won the Grand Prix at Cannes and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Swedish veteran Stellan Skarsgård, and is seen as a major contender at the Oscars in March. “It’s the kind of serious dramatic film that Hollywood is making less and less,” Roxborough said.

After the Academy Awards increased the number of films nominated for Best Picture from five to ten in 2009, there was a notable rise in non-English-speaking films in the race. “Triangle of Grief” by Swedish director Ruben Östlund, “Anatomy of a Fall” by French director Justine Triet, “Zone of Interest” by British director Jonathan Glazer, and “Emilia Perez” by French director Jacques Audiard have all received best picture nominations in recent years.

At the EFA Awards, Trier faces competition from Spanish director Olivier Lax’s thriller Sirāt, Mad-Max-Meets-Stalker, with four nominations, and German director Masha Shilinski’s The Sound of Falling, and French film co-produced by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, It Was Just a Accident, each nominated in three categories.

Saturday’s ceremony – which will be “curated” rather than hosted by Irish documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins ​​as a “live film essay” – is part of a long-term plan to reposition the awards as a more glamorous event on the cultural calendar. Unlike previous years, distributors have held special screenings of nominated films in order to drum up votes, and Roxborough said there are signs that some European distributors are starting to shape their marketing campaigns around the awards.

British producer Mike Downey, the outgoing president of the European Film Academy, said: “European cinema is on the front foot and has repositioned itself to compete with Hollywood, by moving its dates this year to mid-January.” “Our comprehensive overhaul and rebranding radically enhances our image and, indeed, the importance of European cinema in the international awards season.”

While the films on the EFA shortlist are decidedly arthouse films, Hollywood blockbusters continue to dominate the European box office in 2025. However, strong showings from selected domestic productions give European distributors reasons for hope.

“This year has given us compelling evidence that German film should not become smaller than it is now,” the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote at the end of last year. Meanwhile, French films recorded a 6% rise in global markets in 2025.

“Europe is surviving not only in the culture wars, but also at the box office,” Downey said. “If cinema reception is anything to go by in the streaming era, Europe and the US are neck and neck on their home turf with $8.4 billion and $8.5 billion respectively in 2024 – and 2025 looks similar. So, there’s everything to play for.”