European Film Awards 2009: Rules & Relevance
Maria Heiskanen in Everlasting Moments
European Film Awards 2009 – Nominations: Part I
Among the eligible films and performers that failed to nab a mention were Giovanna Mezzogiorno for Vincere, Audrey Tautou for Coco Before Chanel, Maren Ade’s Everyone Else, Ulrich Tukur for The White Ribbon, Martina Gedeck for The Baader Meinhof Complex, and Michael Fassbender for Fish Tank.
Also, Christian Petzold’s Jerichow, Nina Hoss for Jerichow, Jan Troell’s Everlasting Moments, Maria Heiskanen for Everlasting Moments, Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective, Andrzej Wajda’s Sweet Rush, and Philippe Lioret’s Welcome.
Now, the curious thing about the European Film Awards is that the awards’ timing and eligibility rules (some of which have varied throughout the years) make many of the nominations seem like old news. Indeed, as per current European Film Academy rules, in order to be eligible for the awards a motion picture must have had "their first official screening" after July 1 of the previous year (the submission deadline in 2009 was June 15) — whereas in Hollywood a movie can be released in Los Angeles on Dec. 31 and be in the running for the Oscars a mere five or six weeks later.
Apart from film festivals, which take place throughout the year, film awards season around the world generally begins in mid-October and continues all the way into mid-April or whereabouts. Although the European Film Awards have been a relatively important part of the awards hoopla for more than two decades, their relevance could be considerably enhanced if they better represented the European film output in each given year.
For instance, three of the best European film nominees — Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, and Let the Right One In — have already had their national and/or international awards season runs, and so have three other nominees in the top categories, Séraphine (above), Mid-August Lunch, and The Baader Meinhof Complex. Having so many "old" films show up in the European Film Awards roster makes the awards themselves look more than a little outdated. Even if, say, a popular hit like Slumdog Millionaire ends up taking home a bevy of trophies, that’ll feel anticlimactic as the film’s "awards momentum" ended when it won the best picture Oscar about eight months ago.
Like the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs, the European Film Awards would undoubtedly increase their clout if the European Academy pushed their awards ceremony into late January or even February so as to include all eligible films released in a calendar year — of course, as long as its winners are announced before the Academy Awards ceremony. That way, many more among the nominated films would gain awards momentum — and all the extra publicity attached to it — especially English-language productions released later in the year so as to boost their Oscar chances.
It also wouldn’t hurt if non-European talent working on European productions — in case one must stick to regionally made films — were eligible for the nominations as well. I mean, imagine if the Hollywood Academy had a long-standing rule stipulating that only Americans working on US-made productions could qualify for its awards. Had that been the case, perhaps half (or more) of the nominees and winners of the past 81 years — most among those European-born talent, from Emil Jannings and Greta Garbo to Kate Winslet and Danny Boyle — would have been deemed ineligible.
The winners of the 2009 European Film Awards will be announced in Bochum, Germany, on Dec. 12. German comedy performer Anke Engelke will host the event.
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Tags: European Film Academy, European Film Awards, European Film Awards 2009, Everlasting Moments, Maria Heiskanen, Séraphine, The Baader Meinhof Complex
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I hope The Baader Meinhof Complex can get some recognition at the awards. It’s an excellent film about a complicated series of events. Very exciting and very intriguing