At the 2009 Zurich Film Festival, the European Film Academy has announced this year’s nominations for the European Discovery Award for best first film. The nominees are:
AJAMI, Germany / Israel
Winner of the Israeli Film Academy's best picture award, Ajami is set in the mean streets of the occupied territories.
written & directed by Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani
produced by Mosh Danon, Thanassis Karathanos & Talia Kleinhendler
GAGMA NAPIRI (The Other Bank), Georgia / Kazakhstan
After finding his mother with a lover, a pre-teen boy travels back home to Abkhazia in search of his father.
directed by George Ovashvili
written by Nugzar Shataidze
produced by George Ohashvili & Sain Gabdullin
KATALIN VARGA, Romania / UK / Hungary
A woman and her son are on the run from the police (or from more sinister forces) in rural Romania.
Written & directed by Peter Strickland
produced by Tudor Giurgiu, Oana Giurgiu & Peter Strickland
SOIS SAGE (BE GOOD), France / Denmark
A young woman with a mysterious past assumes a new identity in the south of France. Problems arise when she becomes obsessed with a musician.
written & directed by Juliette Garcias
produced by Marianne Slot
SONBAHAR (Autumn), Turkey / Germany
In Autumn, a young ex-con returns to his village where he finds only loneliness and a sense of aimlessness — until a fateful meeting with a Georgian prostitute.
written & directed Özcan Alper
produced by F. Serkan Acar & Kadir Sözen
This year’s nominations were determined by a committee comprised of Board Members Pawel Pawlikowski (UK), Els Vandevorst (the Netherlands), and Pierre-Henri Deleau (France); in addition to Jacob Neiiendam (Denmark), director of the film festival CPH:PIX, as well as film journalists Dana Linssen (the Netherlands) and Alin Taciyan (Turkey), both of them members of FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics).
The nominated films will now be made available to all 2,000 members of the European Film Academy. The winner will be announced at the 2009 European Film Awards on 12 December in Germany’s Ruhr Metropolis (that's in Bochum, not far from Dortmund and Essen).