All-dancing, all-singing musical Emilia Pérez has twirled itself into competition for subsequent yr’s Oscars, as Jacques Audiard’s genre-bending drama scooped 4 out of 5 prime prizes at this yr’s European Movie Awards.
At Saturday night’s ceremony within the Swiss metropolis of Lucerne, the veteran French film-maker received finest movie, finest director and finest screenplay prizes for his Spanish-language musical, a couple of Mexican cartel boss who has a sex-change operation and tries to make up for previous crimes.
Karla Sofía Gascón, the actor who performs each the trans girl Emilia Pérez and her prior incarnation Juan “Manitas” Del Monte, scooped the most effective actress prize.
Accepting her prize, Gascón stated she had chosen to put on a blue costume as a result of she believed “deeply” in European values. “There are European roots of many human rights and legal guidelines”, she stated. “We now have been pioneers on the earth in passing legal guidelines that make life higher for many individuals.”
Audiard’s triumph mirrors that of fellow French film-maker Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, who additionally went house with 4 prime prizes final yr. Given the extra ambivalent important reception that Emilia Pérez has acquired because it’s Cannes premiere in Could, many critics had anticipated a wider unfold of accolades throughout the record of nominees.
Generally pitched as Europe’s reply to the Academy Awards, the EFAs are sometimes a bellwether for European hopes on the better-known Oscars.
The thirty seventh version of the EFAs have been the final to be held in December, with the annual ceremony shifting to the pre-awards season in January from 2026 – permitting distributors to streamline advertising and marketing campaigns and construct up extra of an intense buzz round choose European titles.
The European Movie Awards intention to recognise the most effective movies of the final 12 months from geographical Europe, that means works from EU and non-EU member states are included. This yr’s nominees additionally included a number of movies that have been made exterior Europe however co-produced by firms from the continent.
The most effective documentary prize went to No Different Land, through which Palestinian film-maker Basel Adra paperwork the Israeli navy’s compelled displacement of individuals from his native Masafer Yatta, a group of villages within the West Financial institution. The movie, made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, received the documentary prize on the Berlin pageant earlier this yr.
Adra accepted the award by way of video hyperlink alongside Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who stated the Israeli authorities was “ravenous the individuals of Gaza as a coverage”. “We now have a message for European governments”, he stated. “It’s not sufficient to demand a ceasefire, a ceasefire must be imposed.”
The most effective actor prize went to Abou Sangaré, who performs a younger asylum seeker working as a supply rider in Souleymane’s Story. The Guinea-born actor, who continues to be awaiting the result of a residency standing software in France, additionally accepted the prize remotely as he couldn’t journey to Switzerland attributable to issues together with his ID paperwork.
Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis received finest European animated movie for Circulate, an eco-fable a couple of cat main a gang of animals by a post-apocalyptic, post-human panorama. Dishing out with dialogue and anthropomorphism, it was hailed by IndieWire as “probably the most groundbreaking animated movie about nature since Bambi”.
Europeans have began to return to cinemas after the hiatus of the pandemic, with viewing figures up by 18% in 2023. France stays the continent’s most dependable nation of cinephiles, with 180.8 million tickets bought in 2023, adopted by the UK, Germany and Spain.
What drew audiences again to the large display, nonetheless, was principally made in Hollywood. Solely 1 / 4 of tickets bought in Europe have been for homegrown cinema. Hampered by language boundaries and staggered launch theatrical launch dates, the European blockbuster stays the good white whale of the continent’s movie trade.
In final yr’s resounding EFA winner, Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Europe at the least produced a important hit that lovers of art-house cinema might rally round. Despite being snubbed by France’s Oscar committee, the movie grossed a substantial $36m worldwide, emulating the business success of 2022’s EFA winner, Ruben Östlund’s Anatomy of Unhappiness.
At $8.8m in world field workplace takings to date, Emilia Pérez hasn’t appeared prone to replicate the success of final yr’s winners, although that would change on the again of its prize haul and with cinematic releases in Italy and Scandinavia nonetheless to come back subsequent yr.
Full record of awards
European movie Emilia Pérez
European director Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
European actor Abou Sangare, Souleymane’s Story
European actress Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
European screenwriter Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
European documentary No Different Land
European animated movie Circulate
European discovery prize Armand
European brief movie The Man Who Might Not Stay Silent
European younger viewers award The Outstanding Lifetime of Ibelin
European cinematography The Substance
European modifying Emilia Pérez
European manufacturing design The Lady With The Needle
European costume design The Satan’s Tub
European hair and make-up When The Gentle Breaks
European authentic rating The Lady With The Needle
European visible results The Substance
European sound Souleymane’s Story
European college movie award Three Kilometres To The Finish Of The World
European lifetime achievement award Wim Wenders
European achievement in world cinema Isabella Rossellini
Eurimages worldwide co-production Labina Mitevska
Supply hyperlink
