35. European Film Awards presented in Reykjavík

The 35th European Film Awards ceremony has just ended at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík. Among others, Margarethe von Trotta, the European Commission (Ursula von der Leyen) and the Wuppertal VFX artist Frank Petzold were honored. The leading actress Meltem Kaptan was nominated for the European Film Award as European Actress for her performance in the Film- und Medienstiftung funded film "Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush".

European Sustainabilty Award
Ursula von der Leyen, President of European Commission, was honoured with the European Sustainability Award – Prix Film4Climate 2022. The prize was awarded for the first time. This was in recognition of the "European Green Deal" programme launched by the European Commission under von der Leyen’s presidency.

Lifetime Achievement Award for Margarethe von Trotta and the Storytelling Award to Marco Bellocchio
The writer-director Margarethe von Trotta was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding body of work. Agnieszka Holland, film director and screenwriter, gave the laudation during the ceremony. Von Trotta is one of the leading European filmmakers and has enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with the Film- und Medienstiftung. The fund has also been involved in her latest project "Ingeborg Bachmann" which will have a nationwide theatrical release in October 2023. Moreover, the European Film Academy presented the Italian director Marco Bellocchio with the European Innovative Storytelling Award for his six-part miniseries "Exterior Night". The Filmstiftung had been involved most recently in his mafia epic "The Traitor".

Excellence Award Visual Effects 
Wuppertal-born VFX artist Frank Petzold shared one of the eight Excellence Awards with Viktor Müller and Markus Frank for their visual effects on the film "All Quiet On The Western Front". These Awards honour different arts and crafts. Petzold received his training in the USA, but has now been working again in Europe and already has credits on around 25 films.

European Film Awards
The European Film Awards have been presented by the European Film Academy since 1988. A total of 35 feature films and 14 documentaries were shortlisted for the prestigious award. 4,400 members of the European Film Academy voted on the highlights of European cinema in such categories as Best European Film, Director, Actress, Actor and Screenplay as well as on the nominations in the category for Documentary Film. The ceremony for the European Film Awards was supposed to have been held in Reykjavik in 2020. However, that wasn’t possible because of the pandemic and the ceremony here was rescheduled for this evening.

Further information at www.europeanfilmawards.eu