European Film Academy awards the best in European cinema

December 5, 2007

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The European Film Academy presented awards for best achievements in European cinema in Berlin on December 1. Romanian filmmaker and winner of this year’s Cannes Film Festival Cristian Mungiu took home two major awards for his drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and Two Days - Best Film and Best Director.

Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Helen Mirren received yet another acknowledgment for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in Stephen Frears’ The Queen when she was voted Best Actress, while Israeli actor Sasson Gabai won the Best Actor award for the film The Band’s Visit (Bikur Hatizmoret), which also won the Best Debut award.

The audience voted Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore’s The Unknown (La Sconosciuta) their favourite. The movie deals with a young Ukrainian woman with a violent past that comes back to haunt her in an Italian town, where she works as a house servant.

Another Cannes winner, German writer Fatih Akin won the award for Best Screenplay for The Edge of Heaven (Auf der Anderen Seite). The film tells the story of a man who goes to Istanbul to find his father’s ex-girlfriend’s daughter, who turns out to be a political activist.

Legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard (Le Mépris, Alphaville, A bout de soufflé, Nouvelle vague, Notre musique) was not in attendance to accept his lifetime achievement award. Curiously, a few days before the event, he was heard saying that nobody cared about his films anymore.

The international film critics’ jury gave the FIPRESCI prize to Private Fears in Public Places, a film by French director Alain Resnais.

Another lifetime achievement award, the European Achievement in World Cinema prize, was given to German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (Despair, Goodfellas, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York).

Several other awards were presented in Berlin. Frank Griebe was voted Best Cinematographer for his work in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and Uli Hanisch won the Prix d’Excellence for his work in production design in the movie. Alexandre Desplat received the Best Composer award for The Queen.