Cannes winners ‘Triangle of Sadness,’ ‘Close’ lead 2022 European Film Awards (EFA) nominations

Close is Belgium’s representative for the International Feature Film Oscar, while the three other Best Film nominees are the official submissions for their countries as well: Alcarràs (Spain), Corsage (Austria) and Holy Spider (Denmark). Triangle of Sadness is primarily in English and was not eligible to be submitted for the Oscars. Historically, a nomination for Best Film here is very important in that Oscar race; every European film that has won the Oscar (since the late 1990s) has been nominated here, unless it wasn’t eligible (like 2007’s The Counterfeiters). In 2017, Östlund completely swept here with his Cannes winner The Square, which was nominated for, but didn’t win, the (then called) Foreign Language Film Oscar. Of note, that stat marks a significant blow to films like Germany’s All Quiet on the Western Front.

The European Director lineup, which is often our best bellwether for the ‘non-English language’ spot in Best Director at the Oscars includes Östlund and Dhont along with Marie Kreutzer for Corsage, Jerzy Skolimowski for EO, Ali Abbasi for Holy Spider and Alice Diop for Saint Omer.

Penélope Cruz was nominated for Parallel Mothers, a turn that earned her an Oscar nomination, and is now the most-nominated actor at the European Films Awards with five, passing Juliette Binoche, Mads Mikkelsen and Isabelle Huppert. Cruz is joined in her category by Vicky Krieps in Corsage, Zar Amir Ebrahimi in Holy Spider, Léa Seydoux in One Fine Morning and Meltem Kaptan in Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush.

The European Actor race is comprised of Paul Mescal in Aftersun (surprisingly, the film’s sole nomination), Eden Dambrine in Close, Elliott Crosset Hove in Godland, Pierfrancesco Favino in Nostalgia and Zlatko Burić in Triangle of Sadness.

The winners in the categories for European Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Make-up & Hair, Original Score, Sound and Visual Effects, which are determined by an eight-member jury consisting of representatives of the different arts and crafts, will be announced on November 23.

Here is the complete list of nominations. Winners will be announced on December 10, at a ceremony in Reykjavík, Iceland.

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)

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

European Actress:
• Vicky Krieps in CORSAGE
• 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

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

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)
• 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)
• SONNE, directed by Kurdwin Ayub, produced by Ulrich Seidl (Austria)

Previously announced nominees:

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)
• OINK (KNOR)

Comedy Film

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

Short Film

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

European University Film Award

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