Due to ongoing and unexpected developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Film Academy has decided that the upcoming ceremony of the 34th European Film Awards on 11 December will be presented digitally. “The aim of the organisation is to minimise risks for the people involved as much as possible,” says a statement. The ceremony will be hosted by Annabelle Mandeng.
As previously announced, the Awards Ceremony had already re-formatted as a distanced live event. However, the current situation forces the European Film Awards to take place in a completely hybrid form, with nominees and winners joining in various digital formats, pre-produced and live online. (See below for documentary nominations)
The 34th edition of the European Film Awards will be hosted by German actor, moderator and writer Annabelle Mandeng. The studio is located in the Arena Berlin, where this year’s ceremony was always planned to take place. Several presenters of the different award categories will be at the studio, whereas others will join through a virtual connection.
“As much as we regret this decision,” Academy director Matthijs Wouter Knol states, “at the moment what counts most to us is to prevent people from travelling across Europe and heightening the risk for everybody – this concerns foremost both nominees and winners, but also includes our team in Berlin. We trust that the available technology and a massive effort from everybody involved, combined with our collective experience with all kinds of online gatherings, will make it possible to highlight the exceptional films and achievements nominated for this year’s European Film Awards. In difficult times like these, we especially hope that the Awards Ceremony will bring together the European film community and reach as many film-loving members of the public as possible through streaming.”
Mike Downey, European Film Award FA Chairman added: “Whilst this move is regrettable, we need to bear in mind that in Germany alone there are more than 4000 patients just in intensive care. We could not move ahead with good conscience and ship people to and from across Europe in these highly volatile Covid times. The added concern over the Omicron new variant detected in South Africa has prompted many European countries to put curbs on travel, and it is clear where our responsibilities lie. This having been said, last year we staged a very effective and powerful awards ceremony, and we can do it again this year. The Berlin team is working flat out to make the 2021 European Film Awards a night to remember, at a time when the positioning of European cinema in the world has just got even more important than it already was.”
The livestream of the 34th European Film Awards can be followed on europeanfilmawards.eu at 19:00 CET and through many partners all over Europe. The Ceremony will also be covered on the social media channels of the European Film Awards on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY NOMINATIONS 2021
Babi Yar. Context. Netherlands, Ukraine
Written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa
Produced by Maria Choustova & Ilya Khrzhanovskiy
On September 29-30, 1941, Sonderkommando 4a of the Einsatzgruppe C, assisted by two battalions of the Police Regiment South and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and without any resistance from the local population, shot dead in the Babi Yar ravine in the north-west of Kiev 33 771 Jews. The film reconstructs the historical context of this tragedy through archive footage documenting the German occupation of Ukraine and the subsequent decade. When memory turns into oblivion, when the past overshadows the future, it is the voice of cinema that articulates the truth.
Flee. Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Written by Jonas Poher Rasmussen & Amin Nawabi
Produced by Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte De La Gournerie, Jean-François Le Corre, Mathieu Courtois, Charlotte Most & Maria Ekerhovd
Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym), a 36-year-old high-achieving academic, grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon to be husband. Recounted mostly through animation to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen — his close friend and high-school classmate, he tells for the first time the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan. Through heartfelt interviews between Jonas and Amin, FLEE tells an unforgettable story of self-discovery. Showing how only by confronting the past it is possible to carve out a future, and the universal truth that only when you stop fleeing from who you are you can find the true meaning of home.
Mr Bachmann and his Class. Germany
Directed & produced by Maria Speth
An intimate documentary portraying the bond between an elementary school teacher and his students. His unconventional methods clash with the complex social and cultural realities of the provincial German industrial town they live in.
Taming the Garden. Switzerland, Germany, Georgia
Written and directed by Salomé Jashi
Produced by Vadim Jendreyko, Erik Winker, Martin Roelly & Salomé Jashi
An ode to the rivalry between men and nature, Taming the Garden is the story of how a powerful man indulges in an unusual hobby by having century-old trees uprooted in communities along the Georgian coast and transplanted to his private garden.
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World. Sweden
Directed by Kristina Lindström & Kristian Petri
Produced by Stina Gardell
In 1970, filmmaker Luchino Visconti travelled throughout Europe looking for the perfect boy to personify absolute beauty in his adaptation for the screen of Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice”. In Stockholm, he discovered Björn Andrésen, a shy 15-year-old teenager, who he brought to international fame overnight and led to spend a short but intense part of his turbulent youth between the Lido in Venice, London, the Cannes Film Festival and the so distant Japan. Fifty years after the premiere of DEATH IN VENICE, Björn takes us on a remarkable journey made of personal memories, cinematographic history, stardust and tragic events in what could be the last attempt for him to finally get his life back on track.
EUROPEAN ANIMATED FILM 2021 (Documentary nomination)
Flee. Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Written by Jonas Poher Rasmussen & Amin Nawabi
Produced by Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte De La Gournerie, Jean-François Le Corre, Mathieu Courtois, Charlotte Most & Maria Ekerhovd
EUROPEAN SHORT FILM 2021 (Documentary nomination)
My Uncle Tudor. Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, Moldova
Written, directed and produced by Olga Lucovnicova
After 20 years of silence, the filmmaker travels back to the house of her great-grandparents, where she passed through harmful events that left a deep imprint on her memory forever. The long-awaited family gathering runs counter to her attempts to overcome the past.
In Flow of Words. The Netherlands
Written and directed by Eliane Esther Bots
Produced by Manon Bovenkerk
In Flow of Words follows the narratives of three interpreters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. They interpreted shocking testimonies from witnesses, victims and perpetrators, without ever allowing their own emotions, feelings and personal histories to be present. Contrary to their position at the tribunal, this film places their voices and experiences centre stage.
