European Films

This past weekend the national film awards were awarded in three European countries: the Finnish Jussi Awards, the Spanish Goyas and the Danish Roberts. In Finland, the upcoming Berlinale Competition title Musta jää (Black Ice) from director Petri Kotwica was the big winner with a total of six awards, including Best Picture. The film was largely expected to win, something that cannot be said of Spanish winner Best Picture winner La soledad (Solitary Fragments), a 150-minute arthouse drama mostly in split-screen that attracted only a fraction of the visitors of frontrunner El orfanato (The Orphanage), a spooky thriller and box-office hit that finally went home with the most Goyas of all films (seven in all) but lost in the Best Film and Best Director categories. In Denmark Peter Schønau Fog's Kunsten at græde i kor (The Art of Crying) was the big winner with a total of eight awards. 

The complete Competition jury of the upcoming Berlin Film Festival was revealed today. Jury president Costa-Gavras, the Franco-Greek director of films ranging from 1990 Golden Bear winner Music Box to the more recent Le couperet (The Ax), had been announced announced earlier. The women in the jury are four: Danish director Susanne Bier, who directed Elsker dig for evigt (Open Hearts) and the Oscar-nominated Efter Brylluppet (After the Wedding); French actress Sandrine Bonnaire, who recently made her directorial debut with the documentary Elle s'appelle Sabine (Her Name is Sabine); German actress Diane Kruger, who could be seen in the Berlinale Competition film Goodbye Bafana last year and also played in many French productions including Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas), and Taiwanese-born actress Shu Qi.

The Oscar nominations were announced earlier today in Los Angeles, with European films making a relatively strong appearance in several categories. British period drama Atonement was one of the multiple nominees with a total of seven nominations, just behind US-produced frontrunners There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men with eight nominations each. Though it was not nominated for Best Director, Atonement did walk away with a Best Picture mention as well as nominations in the categories Best Supporting Actress (for young Saoirse Ronan); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Art Direction; Best Cinematography; Best Costume Design and Best Musical Score. French Edith Pif biopic La môme (La Vie en Rose) snagged three nominations: for Best Actress (Marion Cotillard), Best Makeup and Best Costume Design.