‘The Zone of Interest,’ ‘Fallen Leaves’ Lead 2023 European Film Awards Nominations

Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves led the nominations for the 2023 European Films Awards with five nominations apiece and both nominated in the same five categories: European film, European Director, European Screenwriter, European Actor and European Actress.

Glazer and Kaurismäki were triple nominated as producers of their films as well as their directing and screenwriting nods. Jussi Vatanen and Alma Pöysti were actor and actress nominees from Fallen Leaves and with no distinction between lead or supporting performances, Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller were the nominees for The Zone of Interest.

Hüller earned a second nomination in the same category for her performance in Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy of a Fall, which was next with four nominations including European Film and European Director.

Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border nabbed three nominations, for film, director and screenwriter. Me Captain (Io Capitano) and The Teachers’ Lounge each earned two nominations. Afire, Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, How to Have Sex, La Chimera and The Promised Land landed one nomination each in major categories.

The Zone of Interest (UK), Fallen Leaves (Finland) and Me Captain (Italy) are all official country submissions for the International Feature Film Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards. France opted to send The Taste of Things over Anatomy of a Fall. Last year, Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness was the sweeping winner with four. The film went on to earn three Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

The EFA Academy also revealed the nominations for the European Discovery category, which was selected by FIPRESCI, the international federation of film critics. The nominated films were 20,000 Species of Bees, How to Have Sex, La Palisiada, Safe Place, The Quiet Migration and Vincent Must Die.

The nominations are announced in an official nomination video in which teenagers from all over Europe, all members of the newly launched European Film Club. Today’s nominations join the previously announced nominees for European Animated Feature and European Short Film.

The nominations are based on the votes of the 4,600 members of the European Film Academy, will now vote for the winners for all categories. Winners will be announced live at the awards ceremony on December 9 in Berlin which will feature a tribute award to Béla Tarr.

Here is the full list of nominations.

European Film

• Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie D’une Chute), directed by Justine Triet, produced by Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion (France)
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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)

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)
• 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)

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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.

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