Four Swiss productions in the running for a European Film Award
HAPPY AS LAZZARO, Alice Rohrwacher’s multi-award-winning feature film coproduced by Amka Films Productions in Ticino, has been nominated in four categories for the 31st European Film Awards, as announced by the European Film Academy in Seville on Saturday. In addition, THOSE WHO ARE FINE, Cyril Schäublin’s highly acclaimed debut film, has received a nomination for the European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI, and the two award-winning short documentary films – THOSE WHO DESIRE by Elena López Riera and I SIGNED THE PETITION by Mahdi Fleifel – have been nominated in the category of European Short Film.
12.11.2018
Alice Rohrwacher’s HAPPY AS LAZZARO has been nominated in no less than four categories for the European Film Awards: European Film, European Director (Alice Rohrwacher), European Actress (Alba Rohrwacher) and European Screenwriter (Alice Rohrwacher). The Italian-French-Swiss-German coproduction ranks among the favourites for this year’s European Film Awards, together with DOGMAN, COLD WAR and BORDER.
FOXTROT by Israeli director Samuel Maoz, coproduced by Geneva based Dan Wechsler (Bord Cadre films), is also nominated in the category European Director.
HAPPY AS LAZZARO celebrated its world premiere in the main competition of the Festival de Cannes and was honoured with the award for Best Screenplay. Since then the film has been screened at the festivals in Karlovy Vary and Busan, among others, and was recently honoured with the Golden Hugo for Best Film at the Chicago International Film Festival. HAPPY AS LAZZARO was coproduced by Tiziana Soudani at Amka Films Productions, who had already coproduced Rohrwacher’s two earlier films CORPO CELESTE (2011) and THE WONDERS (2014). Until now, HAPPY AS LAZZARO has been released in cinemas in Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with world sales acquired by The Match Factory.
THOSE WHO ARE FINE ranks among the European Discoveries
Cyril Schäublin’s first full-length feature THOSE WHO ARE FINE has been nominated for the European Discovery 2018 – Prix FIPRESCI, an award presented annually as part of the European Film Awards to a debut film by a young and upcoming filmmaker. This year’s six nominees were determined by a six-member committee comprised of the following experts: EFA board member Katriel Schory (Israel), festival programmers Mihai Chirilov (Rumania) and Azize Tan (Turkey), as well as the film critics representing FIPRESCI Isabelle Danel (France), Robbie Eksiel (Greece) and Michael Pattison (UK).
THOSE WHO ARE FINE premiered in the Concorso Cineasti del presente in Locarno and was screened thereafter at renowned international festivals like IFFR in Rotterdam and New Directors/New Films Festival in New York, winning numerous awards, including the main award for Best International Feature Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. THOSE WHO ARE FINE ran for approximately ten months in cinemas in German-speaking Switzerland and received a nomination for the Swiss Film Award 2018 in the category of Best Fiction Film.
The two documentary shorts THOSE WHO DESIRE by Elena López Riera (Locarno Short Film nominee) and the coproduction with minority participation I SIGNED THE PETITION (UK/Germany/Switzerland) by Mahdi Fleifel (Sarajevo Short Film nominee) have also forged an impressive festival career. Fifteen short films from Europe have been nominated in the European Short Film category due to their festival awards.
In the coming weeks, the more than 3,500 members of the European Film Academy will vote on the winners, who will then be announced at the awards ceremony of the 31st European Film Awards in Sevilla on December 15, 2018.
SWISS FILMS, November 12, 2018