With the film eligibility dates covering portions of two years, the 2009 European Film Awards finds itself in an awkward mode of having a clear favorites from circa 2008 (Slumdog Millionaire, Let the Right One In) go up against cream of the crop from Cannes 2009 (A Prophet, The White Ribbon and Fish Tank). Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet leads all nominations with a total of six with Best European Film, Director, Screenwriter, Actor (Tahar Rahim), Cinematography and Sound Design. Slumdog comes in 2nd place with five nominations while the Palme d’or winning The White Ribbon and Broken Embraces are tied with 4 each. The Reader, Fish Tank, Coco Avant Chanel, Antichrist and Let the Right One In have a total of 3 each. For the fun of it, I’ve placed asterisks next to what I think the winner will be in all of the categories below.
So what do you think will and should win in the Best European Film?
EUROPEAN FILM 2009
Fish Tank – directed by Andrea Arnold
Let the Right One In – directed by Tomas Alfredson
* A Prophet – directed by Jacques Audiard
The Reader – directed by Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire – directed by Danny Boyle
The White Ribbon – Michael Haneke
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2009
Pedro Almodóvar for Broken Embraces
Andrea Arnold for Fish Tank
* Jacques Audiard for A Prophet
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon
Lars von Trier for Antichrist
EUROPEAN ACTOR 2009
Moritz Bleibtreu in The Baader Meinhof Complex
Steve Evets in Looking for Eric
David Kross in The Reader
Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
* Tahar Rahim in A Prophet
Filippo Timi in Vincere
EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2009
Penélope Cruz in Broken Embraces
* Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist
Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank
Yolande Moreau in Seraphine
Noomi Rapace in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Kate Winslet in The Reader
EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2009
* Jacques Audiard & Thomas Bidegain for A Prophet
Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire
Gianni di Gregorio for Mid-August Lunch
Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon
CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2009
Christian Berger for The White Ribbon
* Anthony Dod Mantle for Antichrist & Slumdog Millionaire
Maxim Drozdov & Alisher Khamidkhodzhaev for Paper Soldier
Stéphane Fontaine for A Prophet
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY PRIX D’EXCELLENCE 2009
Francesca Calvelli for the Editing, Vincere
Catherine Leterrier for the Costume Design, Coco Before Chanel
Waldemar Pokromski for Make Up and Hair, The Baader Meinhof Complex
* Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier, Jean-Paul Hurier & Marc Doisne for the Sound Design, A Prophet
EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2009
Alexandre Desplat for Coco Before Chanel
Jakob Groth for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
* Alberto Iglesias for Broken Embraces
Johan Söderqvist for Let the Right One in
