2022 European Film Awards (EFA): ‘Triangle of Sadness’ dominates with four wins

The 35th European Film Awards (EFA) were held on Saturday where Ruben Östlund’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning capitalism satire Triangle of Sadness where the overwhelming favorite, making a near complete sweep, winning European Film, European Director, European Actor, and European Screenplay. It was Östlund’s second win from the European Film Academy; the director previously won here for 2017’s The Square.

Previous winners of the top prize here that have gone on to Oscar success include Another Round, The Favourite, Cold War and Amour. As Triangle of Sadness is an English-language film, it was not eligible for the International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards but, like The Favourite, is a contender in other categories like original screenplay and best director.

Ruben Östlund won the European Director and European Screenwriter prizes. “Thanks to all my fellow nominees and colleagues. My producers are here, together with Vicki Berlin and Sunnyi Melles – thanks for your great vomiting performance,” said Östlund in his speech after winning director, and on a more somber note commented, “I want to dedicate this prize to Charlbi Dean who passed away a few months ago.”

Zlatko Burić won European Director for Triangle of Sadness over stiff competition, including Eden Dambrine in Close and Paul Mescal in Aftersun, remarking “I’ve tried for so many years, it’s nice to have it now! The fabulous group of Triangle of Sadness gave me so much power. I’d like to thank all my friends that I started playing theatre with in Yugoslavia, I believe in collective work!” Vicky Krieps was the European Actress winner for Corsage and in her speech said, “I don’t have a very good relationship with awards, but I want to dedicate this to all women that need to be heard and seen. That need to heal from these deep deep wounds that we carry for generations. And that we need to heal in order for men and women to come back together again.”

Winners for Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Make-up and Hair, Original Score, Sound and Visual Effects, which are determined by an eight-member jury consisting of representatives of the different arts and crafts, were announced on November 23 where Belfast and All Quiet on the Western Front led with two awards apiece.

Germany’s WWI drama and Oscar entry All Quiet on the Western Front, won European Makeup and Hair for Heike Merker and European Visual Effects for the team of Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller and Markus Frank.

Two more official Oscar entries won prizes here, Ireland’s The Quiet Girl for Kate McCullogh’s cinematography and Paweł Mykietyn for European Original Score for Poland’s EO. The latter also won the competitive European University Film Award, besting Triangle of Sadness and Close.

Special honorees included directors Marco Bellocchio (Dormant Beauty), who will receive the award for European Innovative Storytelling; Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention), the European Achievement in World Cinema award-winner, and Margarethe von Trotta (The Sisters Films), recipient of the European Lifetime Achievement Award.

A series of special awards, recognizing the push for climate change to the honoring the producers of Ukrainian films were The European Sustainability Award – Prix Film4Climate to the European Green Deal by the European Commission and the Eurimages Co-Production Award 2022 presented on behalf of all Ukrainian producers.

Icelandic actor, screenwriter and politician Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir and Icelandic artist, author and stand-up comedian Hugleikur Dagsson were the masters of ceremony at Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Presenters during the evening included Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones), Bulgarian actor and Academy Award nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Italian actor Lorenzo Zurzolo (EO), Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur (101 Reykjavík), and German actress Nina Hoss (TÁR), who presented the ceremony’s in memoriam section of European actors, filmmakers and more lost in 2022. The Icelandic Symphonic Orchestra, the music collective INNI and Icelandic electronic music band GusGus were the live musical acts and accompaniment for the event.

Here is the complete list of winners of the 35th European Film Awards.

European Film

• ALCARRÀS, directed by Carla Simón, produced by María Zamora, Stefan Schmitz, Tono Folguera & Giovanni Pompili (Spain/Italy)
• CLOSE, directed by Lukas Dhont, produced by Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens, Michel Saint-Jean, Laurette Schillings, Arnold Heslenfeld, Frans van Gestel & Jacques-Henri Bronckart (Belgium/France/Netherlands)
• CORSAGE, directed by Marie Kreutzer, produced by Alexander Glehr, Johanna Scherz, Bernard Michaux, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade & Jean-Christophe Reymond (Austria/Luxembourg/Germany/France)
• HOLY SPIDER, directed by Ali Abbasi, produced by Sol Bondy & Jacob Jarek (Denmark/Germany/Sweden/France)
• TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, directed by Ruben Östlund, produced by Erik Hemmendorff & Philippe Bober (Sweden/Germany/France/United Kingdom) – WINNER

European Director

• Lukas Dhont for CLOSE
• Marie Kreutzer for CORSAGE
• Jerzy Skolimowski for EO
• Ali Abbasi for HOLY SPIDER
• Alice Diop for SAINT OMER
• Ruben Östlund for TRIANGLE OF SADNESS – WINNER

European Actress

• Vicky Krieps in CORSAGE – WINNER
• Zar Amir Ebrahimi in HOLY SPIDER
• Léa Seydoux in ONE FINE MORNING
• Penélope Cruz in PARALLEL MOTHERS
• Meltem Kaptan in RABIYE KURNAZ VS. GEORGE W. BUSH

European Actor

• Paul Mescal in AFTERSUN
• Eden Dambrine in CLOSE
• Elliott Crosset Hove in GODLAND
• Pierfrancesco Favino in NOSTALGIA
• Zlatko Burić in TRIANGLE OF SADNESS – WINNER

European Screenwriter

• Carla Simón & Arnau Vilaró for ALCARRÀS
• Kenneth Branagh for BELFAST
• Lukas Dhont & Angelo Tijssens for CLOSE
• Ali Abbasi & Afshin Kamran Bahrami for HOLY SPIDER
• Ruben Östlund for TRIANGLE OF SADNESS – WINNER

European Documentary

• A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS, directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont (Denmark/Sweden/Finland/Ukraine)
• GIRL GANG, directed by Susanne Regina Meures (Switzerland)
• MARIUPOLIS 2, directed by Mantas Kvedaravičius (Lithuania/France/Germany) – WINNER
• THE BALCONY MOVIE (FILM BALKONOWY), directed by Paweł Łoziński (Poland)
• THE MARCH ON ROME (MARCIA SU ROMA), directed by Mark Cousins (Italy)

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI

• 107 MOTHERS (CENZORKA), directed by Peter Kerekes (Slovakia/Czech Republic/Ukraine)
• LOVE ACCORDING TO DALVA (DALVA), directed by Emmanuelle Nicot (Belgium/France)
• OTHER PEOPLE (INNI LUDZIE), directed by Aleksandra Terpińska (Poland/France)
• PAMFIR, directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/France/Poland/Germany/ Chile)
• SMALL BODY (PICCOLO CORPO), directed by Laura Samani (Italy/Slovenia/France) – WINNER
• SONNE, directed by Kurdwin Ayub, produced by Ulrich Seidl (Austria)

European Animated Film

• LITTLE NICHOLAS – HAPPY AS CAN BE (LE PETIT NICOLAS – QU’EST-CE QU’ON ATTEND POUR ÊTRE HEUREUX?)
• MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE
• MY NEIGHBORS’ NEIGHBORS (LES VOISINS DE MES VOISINS SONT MES VOISINS)
• NO DOGS OR ITALIANS ALLOWED (INTERDIT AUX CHIENS ET AUX ITALIENS) – WINNER
• OINK (KNOR)

European Comedy Film

• COP SECRET (LEYNILÖGGA) directed by Hannes Þór Halldórsson (Iceland)
• THE GOOD BOSS (EL BUEN PATRÓN) directed by Fernando León de Aranoa (Spain) – WINNER
• THE DIVIDE (LA FRACTURE) directed by Catherine Corsini (France)

European Short Film

• GRANNY’S SEXUAL LIFE (BABIČINO SEKSUALNO ŽIVLJENJE) – WINNER
• ICE MERCHANTS
• LOVE, DAD (MILÝ TATI)
• TECHNO, MAMA
• WILL MY PARENTS COME TO SEE ME

European University Film Award

• ALCARRÀS
• CLOSE
• EO – WINNER
• THE ECLIPSE
• TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

European Cinematography
Kate McCullough for THE QUIET GIRL

European Editing
Özcan Vardar and Eytan İpeker for BURNING DAYS

European Production Design
Jim Clay for BELFAST

European Costume Design
Charlotte Walter for BELFAST

European Make-up and Hair
Heike Merker for ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

European Original Score
Paweł Mykietyn for EO

European Sound
Simone Paolo Olivero, Paolo Benvenuti, Benni Atria, Marco Saitta, Ansgar Frerich and Florian Holzner for THE HOLE

European Visual Effects
Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller and Markus Frank for ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

• Author
• Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2024 North Texas Film Critics Association (NTFCA) Nominations - December 24, 2024
• 2024 Online Association of Female Film Critics (OAFFC) Winners: ‘The Substance” Dominates - December 23, 2024
• 2024 Greater Western New York Film Critics Association (GWNYFCA) Nominations - December 23, 2024