5 European Film Awards: Filmstiftung-backed „Toni Erdmann“ is the evening’s big winner
- Award for European Film 2016
- European Director 2016 and European Screenwriter 2016: Maren Ade
- European Actress 2016: Sandra Hüller, European Actor 2016: Peter Simonischek
- Awards ceremony of the 29th European Film Awards in Wroclaw in front of 1,200 guests
The big winner at the 29th European Film Awards was Maren Ade’s „Toni Erdmann“, which received a total five awards off its five nominations. Apart from the award for European Film 2016, Maren Ade received the European Film Awards for Best Director and Best Screenwriter. Sandra Hüller was named European Actress 2016 for her portrayal of Ines Conradi, while Peter Simonischek was presented with the European Actor 2016 statuette for his performance as Toni Erdmann. The awards ceremony was held in this year’s European Capital of Culture Wroclaw on Saturday evening in front of around 1,200 guests.
The more than 3,000 members of the European Film Academy had voted on the winners in the previous weeks. The winners of the European Film Awards 2016 were announced by prominent European creative figures, including EFA President Wim Wenders and Volker Schlöndorff (Germany), Susanne Bier (Denmark), Ludivine Sagnier (France) and Cécile de France and Veerle Baetens (Belgium) and Tom Wlaschiha (Germany).
„Toni Erdmann“ was the only German film to be nominated in the main categories of this year’s awards ceremony. „Toni Erdmann“ has been screening in German cinemas since mid-July and has already taken more than 700,000 cinema-goers under its spell. The film captivated the international festival audience on its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and won the prestigious International Film Critics Prize FIPRESCI. The Cologne-based sales agent The Match Factory has since sold the film to over 100 countries. Maren Ade’s exceptional film is currently representing Germany in the race for the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film, is also nominated for the International Spirit Awards, and has a very good chance of being nominated for the Golden Globes today, among other things.
„Toni Erdmann“ is a production of Komplizen Film in co-production with coop99Filmproduktion and Missing Link Films. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is the main funder and supported the film’s production and distribution with a total of 785,000 Euros. Additional backing came from MBB, FFHSH, FFF, DFFF, FFA, BKM, ÖFI, Filmstandort Austria, MEDIA and Eurimages. SWR, WDR and ARTE participated in the production as broadcasters, NFP is the German distributor. Part of the film was shot in Aachen, and Bucharest was another location. To date, over 750,000 cinema-goers have seen the film in German cinemas.
Maren Ade, Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischek accepted the awards in person. „Toni Erdmann“ was also nominated in the category of Best Foreign Language at the Critic’s Choice Movie Awards of Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), which were presented in Santa Monica on Sunday (Dec 11).