European Film Awards 2006 longlist includes Volver, The Caiman, The Lives of Others, and 46 other titles
Among the 49 entries vying for the 2006 Best European Film nominations are:
Berlin Film Festival winner Grbavica, Jasmila Zbanic’s Bosnian War tale about a girl who discovers that her mother has been less than honest about the identity of her long-lost father; The Cayman, Nanni Moretti’s cinematic attack on right-wing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and the winner of the 2005 David di Donatello Award; Christopher Nielsen’s animated tale Free Jimmy, winner of Norway’s Amanda Film Awards; and Rachid Bouchareb’s Days of Glory, the tale of North Africans fighting for France during World War II, and the winner of an ensemble Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Also, Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’s anti-human rights abuses docudrama The Road to Guantanamo; Josef Fares’s Zozo, the story of a young Lebanese immigrant living in Sweden; Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s German blockbuster and German Film Academy winner The Lives of Others, which personalizes the deeds of East Germany’s feared Stasi police; and Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver, about two young women and the ghost of their mother coming to terms with their mutual past.
Note: The European Film Academy (along with numerous tourism agencies) considers Israel as part of Europe. That’s why Dalia Hager and Vidi Bilu’s Karov Labayit / Close to Home, the story of two very different teenage girls doing military service, is one of the Best European Film entries.
EFA Press release: There are forty-nine European films on the selection list for the European Film Awards 2006! In the coming weeks, the 1,700 members of the European Film Academy will select the nominations in the different award categories*.
In the 20 countries with the most EFA members, these members have voted one national film directly into the selection list. To complete the list, a Selection Committee (consisting of EFA Board members and invited experts) has included further films.
The nominations will be announced on November 4 at the Seville Film Festival in Spain.
The Award Ceremony with the presentation of the winners will take place in Warsaw on Dec. 2.
European Film Awards 2006 longlist
ALONG THE RIDGE / ANCHE LIBERO VA BENE (Italy)
Director: Kim Rossi Stuart.BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (Ireland | United Kingdom)
Director: Neil Jordan.CLIMATES / IKLIMLER (Turkey | France)
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan.THE FAMILY FRIEND / L’AMICO DI FAMIGLIA (Italy | France)
Director: Paolo Sorrentino.FREE JIMMY (Norway | United Kingdom)
Director: Christopher Nielsen.GARPASTUM (Russia)
Director: Alexei German Jr.GRBAVICA (Austria | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Germany | Croatia)
Director: Jasmila Zbanic.MOTHER OF MINE / ÄIDEISTÄ PARHAIN (Finland)
Director: Klaus Härö.9th COMPANY / 9-YA ROTA (Russia | Ukraine | Finland)
Director: Fyodor Bondarchuk.PERSONA NON GRATA (Poland | Russia | Italy)
Director: Krzysztof Zanussi.THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS / LA VIDA SECRETA DE LAS PALABRAS (Spain)
Director: Isabel Coixet.SOMEONE ELSE’S HAPPINESS / EEN ANDER ZIJN GELUK (Belgium | the Netherlands)
Director: Fien Troch.TAXIDERMIA (Hungary | Austria | France)
Director: György Pálfi.12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST / A FOST SAU N-A FOST (Romania)
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu.VITUS (Switzerland)
Director: Fredi M. Murer.VOLVER (Spain)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar.THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (United Kingdom | Ireland | Germany | Italy | Spain)
Director: Ken Loach.ZOZO (Sweden | Denmark | United Kingdom)
Director: Josef Fares.BLÓObÖND (Thicker Than Water), Iceland | Denmark | Germany
Director: Arni Olafur Asgeirsson.DEN BRYSOMME MANNEN (The Bothersome Man), Norway | Iceland
Director: Jens Lien.IL CAIMANO (The Caiman), Italy | France
Director: Nanni Moretti.DRABET (Manslaughter), Denmark | Norway | Sweden | United Kingdom
Director: Per Fly.EFTER BRYLLUPPET (After the Wedding), Denmark | United Kingdom
Director: Susanne Bier.FEHÉR TENYÉR (White Palms), Hungary
Director: Szabolcs Hajdu.FLANDRES (Flanders), France
Director: Bruno Dumont.INDIGÈNES (Days of Glory), France/ Maroc/ Algeria| Belgium
Director: Rachid Bouchareb.JE NE SUIS PAS LÀ POUR ÊTRE AIMÉ (Not Here To Be Loved), France
Director: Stéphane Brizé.JUVENTUDE EM MARCHA (Colossal Youth), Portugal | France | Switzerland
Director: Pedro Costa.KARAULA (Border Post), Bosnia-Herzegovina | Croatia | Slovenia | Macedonia | United Kingdom |
Serbia
Director: Rajko Grlic.KAROV LABAYIT (Close To Home), Israel
Director: Dalia Hager & Vidi Bilu.KOMORNIK (The Collector), Poland
Director: Feliks Falk.LAITAKAUPUNGIN VALOT (Lights in the Dusk), Finland | Germany | France
Director: Aki Kaurismäki.LANGER LICHT (Northern Light), The Netherlands
Director: David Lammers.DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN (The Lives of Others), Germany
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.LEIDI ZI (Lady Zee), Bulgaria
Director: Georgi Djulgerov.LIUBI, Greece
Director: Layia Yiourgou.LE PETIT LIEUTENANT, France
Director: Xavier Beauvois.PRIDE & PREJUDICE, (United Kingdom)
Director: Joe Wright.PRINCESAS, Spain
Director: Fernando León De Aranoa.PRINCESS, Denmark | Germany
Director: Anders Morgenthaler.REQUIEM, Germany
Director: Hans-Christian Schmid.THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (United Kingdom)
Director: Michael Winterbottom [and Mat Whitecross].ROMANZO CRIMINALE (Crime Novel), Italy
Director: Michele Placido.SALVADOR (PUIG ANTICH), Spain | United Kingdom)
Director: Manuel Huerga.THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP, France
Director: Michel Gondry.SOMMER ’04 (Summer ’04), Germany
Director: Stefan Krohmer.SOMMER VORM BALKON (Summer In Berlin), Germany
Director: Andreas Dresen.SPIELE LEBEN (You Bet Your Life), Austria | Switzerland
Director: Antonin Svoboda.STESTÍ (Something Like Happiness), Czech Republic | Germany
Director: Bohdan Sláma.
“European Film Awards 2006 Longlist: Volver, Cayman” notes
*last modified in March 2026.