2023 European Film Awards (EFA): ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Sweeps with 5 Wins

Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy of a Fall swept the 2023 European Film Awards, winning all four of its main field nominations – European Film, European Director, European Actress for Sanda Hüller and European Screenwriter for Triet and Arthur Harari, as well as the award for European Editing (Laurent Sénéchal).

Last year’s Palme winner, Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness, also ruled the European Film Awards on its way to Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Both Triangle and Anatomy are distributed in the U.S. by NEON. This year, France opted to send The Taste of Things over Anatomy of a Fall for the International Feature Film Oscar.

Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land was next with three wins; Mads Mikkelsen for European Actor, Rasmus Videbæ for European Cinematography and Kicki Ilander for European Costume Design. Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves led the nominations with five apiece but only Zone was able to muster a win, in Sound for Johnnie Burn & Tarn Willers.

The Honorary Award of the Academy President and Board went to Béla Tarr. Vanessa Redgrave received the European Lifetime Achievement award in recognition of her contribution to European cinema throughout her career. In other special honors and awards, Isabel Coixet received the award for European Achievement in World Cinema for her impressive contribution to filmmaking. Güler Sabancı, Chair of Sabancı Holding and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı Foundation, was awarded with the European Sustainability Award – Prix Film4climate 2023. Uljana Kim received the Eurimages International Co-production Award 2023 to mark her outstanding commitment to co-production and the strong co-producing partnerships she has built up over the years.

The nominations were based on the votes of the 4,600 members of the European Film Academy, and a special eight-member jury decided on the winners.

Here is the complete list of 2023 European Film Awards winners.

European Film

• Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie D’une Chute), directed by Justine Triet, produced by Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion (France) – WINNER
• Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet Lehdet), directed by Aki Kaurismäki, produced by Aki Kaurismäki, Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff and Reinhard Brundig (Finland, Germany)
• Green Border (Zielona Granica), directed by Agnieszka Holland, produced by Marcin Wierzchosławski, Fred Bernstein and Agnieszka Holland (Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium)
• Me Captain (Io Capitano), directed by Matteo Garrone, produced by Matteo Garrone, Paolo Del Brocco, Ardavan Safaee and Joseph Rouschop (Italy, Belgium)
• The Zone of Interest, directed by Jonathan Glazer, produced by James Wilson and Ewa Puszczyńska (U.K., Poland, U.S.)

European Director

• Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall – WINNER
• Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves
• Agnieszka Holland for Green Border
• Matteo Garrone for Me Captain (Io Capitano)
• Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest

European Screenwriter

• Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for Anatomy of a Fall – WINNER
• Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves
• Maciej Pisuk, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko and Agnieszka Holland for Green Border
• İlker Çatak and Johannes Duncker for The Teachers’ Lounge
• Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest

European Actress

• Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall – WINNER
• Eka Chavleishvili in Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
• Alma Pöysti in Fallen Leaves
• Mia Mckenna-Bruce in How to Have Sex
• Leonie Benesch in The Teachers’ Lounge
• Sandra Hüller in The Zone of Interest

European Actor

• Thomas Schubert in Afire
• Jussi Vatanen in Fallen Leaves
• Josh O’Connor in La Chimera
• Mads Mikkelsen in The Promised Land – WINNER
• Christian Friedel in The Zone of Interest

European Documentary

• Apolonia, Apolonia, directed by Lea Glob (Denmark, Poland)
• Four Daughters (Les Filles D’olfa), directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia)
• Motherland, directed by Hanna Badziaka and Alexander Mihalkovich (Sweden, Ukraine, Norway)
• On the Adamant (Sur L’adamant), directed by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan)
• Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Savvusanna Sõsarad), directed by Anna Hints (Estonia, France, Iceland) – WINNER

Best European Animated Feature Film

• The Amazing Maurice (Toby Genkel)
• Chicken for Linda! (Sébastien Laudenbach and Chiara Malta)
• A Greyhound of a Girl (Enzo d’Alò)
• Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger) – WINNER
• White Plastic Sky (Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó)

Best European Short Film

• 27 (Flóra Anna Buda)
• Aqueronte (Manuel Muñoz Rivas)
• Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays (Christian Avilés)
• Flores del otro patio (Jorge Cadena)
• Hardly Working (Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, and Michael Stumpf) – WINNER

European Young Audience Award

• Longing for the World
• One in a Million
• Scrapper – WINNER

European University Film Award

• Anatomy of a Fall – WINNER
• Green Border
• Housekeeping for Beginners
• How to Have Sex
• The Teachers’ Lounge

European Discovery – Prix Fipresci

• 20,000 Species of Bees (20.000 Especies De Abejas), directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain)
• How to Have Sex, directed by Molly Manning Walker (U.K., Greece) – WINNER
• La Palisiada (Ля Палісіада), directed by Philip Sotnychenko (Ukraine)
• Safe Place (Sigurno Mjesto), directed by Juraj Lerotić (Croatia, Slovenia)
• The Quiet Migration (Stille Liv), directed by Malene Choi (Denmark)
• Vincent Must Die (Vincent Doit Mourir), directed by Stéphan Castang (France, Belgium)

European Cinematography: Rasmus Videbæk – THE PROMISED LAND

European Editing: Laurent Sénéchal – ANATOMY OF A FALL

European Production Design: Emita Frigato – LA CHIMERA

European Costume Design: Kicki Ilander – THE PROMISED LAND

European Make-up & Hair: Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver, David Martí & Montse Ribé – SOCIETY OF THE SNOW

European Original Score: Markus Binder – CLUB ZERO

European Sound: Johnnie Burn & Tarn Willers – THE ZONE OF INTEREST

European Visual Effects: Félix Bergés, Laura Pedro – SOCIETY OF THE SNOW

Special awards

EFA Lifetime Achievement Award: Vanessa Redgrave
European Achievement in World Cinema Award: Isabel Coixet
Honorary Award of the Academy President and Board: Béla Tarr

Eurimages International Co-Production Award: Uljana Kim
European Sustainability Award – Prix Film4Climate: Güler Sabancı