FILM OF THE WEEK
INTERVIEW | feature: European Film Awards 2006 predictions |
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| Written by Boyd van Hoeij | |
| Friday, 01 December 2006 | |
 German actor and EFA nominee Ulrich Mühe in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's 'Das Leben der Anderen' (The Lives of Others). Photo (c): Buena Vista Germany, 2006. With more ink and screen particles wasted every year on Oscar predictions, it is about time someone sat down to do the same for the European Film Awards (EFAs), which will be awarded tomorrow [Saturday] in Warsaw, Poland. Boyd van Hoeij, the editor of european-films.net, has taken this unholy task upon him, psychoanalysing the Academy to the core, telling you who they are and -- more importantly -- how they will vote. As an added bonus, he also tells you who, in a fairer world (and his not so humble opinion) should really win.
This year in their 19th edition, the EFAs are awarded by the membership of the European Film Academy, which counts around 1700 industry professionals. Unlike the Oscars with their long history (the first were handed out in 1929), the EFAs have been around only since 1988 (when the Academy was still called the “European Cinema Society”), so it is hard to judge from past choices what the Academy really likes and dislikes, because as an award, the EFA is still in its infancy -- or its petulant adolescence at best. There are some indications of what the Academy likes, however, and the taste of the Academy as a whole has been surprisingly consistent of the last 18 years, with exactly half (or nine) times the Best Film EFA given to the work of a director who again would be a winner in the future or was already a winner in the past. Italian director Gianni Amelio is the only filmmaker to have ever directed three EFA Best Film winners: Lamerica in 1994, Il ladro dei bambini (The Stolen Children) in 1992 and Porte aperte (Open Doors) at the 3rd EFA ceremony in Glasgow in 1990. The following enfants terribles have each directed two EFA Best Film winners: Pedro Almodóvar (Todo sobre mi madre/All About My Mother in 1999 and Hable con ella/Talk to Her in 2002); Ken Loach (Riff-Raff in 1990 and Land and Freedom in 1995) and Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves in 1996 and Dancer in the Dark in 2000). This select group of filmmakers would indicate that the Academy favours a certain realism and good storytelling as well as critical hits that have also been audience favourites. This idea is reinforced when one looks at the remaining Best Film winners, the one hit wonders: Kieslowski’s Krótki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing) at the first EFAs in 1988; Theo Angelopoulos’s Topio stin omichli (Landscape in the Mist) the following year; Nikita Mikhalkov’s Urga (Close to Eden/Territory of Love) from 1993; Peter Cattaneo’s The Full Monty from 1997; Roberto Benigni’s La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful) from 1998; Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Amelie) from 2001; 2003’s Good Bye Lenin! from Wolfgang Becker; 2004’s Gegen die Wand (Head-on) from Fatih Akin and last year’s Michael Haneke-directed Caché (Hidden). EFA Best Film 2006 The Anglophones can be “tossed out” first as they would say, since their films have received neither all-round critical applause, enormous box-office success or politically insensitive subjects. Zbanic’s film won the Berlinale but was what industry people euphemistically call a “surprise winner”, which means they found it an odd choice in an excellent field. The “surprise winner” handicap also applies to The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which unexpectedly won in Cannes. Loach has already won twice before however, which unlike the Oscars, might work in his favour rather than against him. The real battle seems to between Volver (also known as "the surprise loser" at Cannes) and Das Leben der Anderen, which has been a surprise hit everywhere it was shown and raided the national German film prizes, the Lolas, earlier this year. It did not play at any major European festival (which Variety noted in its review of the film as particularly odd) but has won numerous prizes (including three Audience Awards) at smaller festivals. The two films also both have the most EFA nominations in total: six each. Finally, what will spur on Volver and deter Das Leben der Anderen is the fact that Volver’s director already has two statues to his name while Henckel von Donnersmarck has none (this is first film after all). And then there is this little prize called Oscar. The EFA members would of course like to be considered as giving away influential awards, and giving its highest award to a possible Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscar nominee will give Volver the edge. Both films are representing their country in the Best Foreign Language category as well, but this is considered a minor Oscar next to the categories populated by Hollywood’s titles such as Best Director.
The new names in this category are esteemed Danish director Susanne Bier, for her harrowing family secrets drama Efter brylluppet (After the Wedding) and Italian director Emmanuele Crialese for Nuovomondo (Golden Door), which won the “revelation” prize at Venice, despite this being his third film. Almodóvar, Henckel von Donnersmarck, Loach and the duo Winterbottom-Whitecross did direct their Best Film nominees. Zbanic and Jordan were apparently on a holiday. Conventional wisdom has it that the Best Film winner would have to be directed by the Best Director winner, but conventional wisdom also indicates that award voters like to spread the love in a year full of extremely worthy contenders, so the award will probably go to Henckel von Donnersmarck.
The winner will likely emerge from the actors whose surname starts with M: as in Mikkelsen, Mühe or Murphy. Mads Mikkelsen (nominated for Bier's Efter Brylluppet/After the Wedding) is a great character actor from Denmark who benefits from the international exposure of 007’s Casino Royale to remind voters of how great he can be on the big screen; Ulrich Mühe is the real heart and reason why Das Leben der Anderen is poignant and not just observant, so a win for him would be derserved; and Cillian Murphy has two Best Film EFA nominations going for him, so voters are more likely to have seen a film with him, and he is great in both.
Some award winners have already announced: EFA for Artistic Contribution 2006 Related items:
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