{"id":3290,"date":"2026-01-17T15:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/european-film-awards-boss-talks-new-era-for-newly-dated-ceremony\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T15:00:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:00:35","slug":"european-film-awards-boss-talks-new-era-for-newly-dated-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/european-film-awards-boss-talks-new-era-for-newly-dated-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"European Film Awards Boss Talks New Era For Newly Dated Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tHot pre-Oscar invites in L.A. include the Chanel and Charles Finch dinner, the Motion Picture & Television Fund\u2019s Night Before benefit gala and more intimate agency soirees organized by agencies CAA and WME.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn Berlin, select guests of Saturday evening\u2019s 38th European Film Awards were invited into the homes of locally based members of organizing body the European Film Academy (EFA) for a home-cooked meal. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe like to do things differently,\u201d EFA CEO and Director Matthijs\u00a0Wouter\u00a0Knol told Deadline in the lead-up to the awards, revealing there were around 25 dinners all over for city for EFA members.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cVolker Schl\u00f6ndorff is cooking dinner,\u201d he continued, referring to the Cannes Palme d\u2019Or and Oscar- winning The Tin Drum<\/em> director, who is currently working on the feature film Visitation<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe started this two years ago and it was a great success because many people who didn\u2019t know one another before, spent an evening having dinner in the kitchen of another member.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe initiative makes sense given the body\u2019s ever-growing membership which now tops 5,400, with members based in more than 50 countries across Europe, following a 30% growth in membership over the past five years.<\/p>\n
\n\tWouter Knol, who was previously the head of the Berlinale\u2019s European Film Market, has been at the forefront of this growth since his arrival as EFA\u2019s director in 2021 with the ambitions to expand the reach and influence of the organization and its awards.<\/p>\n
\n\tMore official pre-ceremony events on Friday night included the Mayor\u2019s Night at Berlin\u2019s city hall attended by nominees such as Jafar Panahi, Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd and Vicky Krieps as well as honorees Liv Ullmann and Alice Rohrwacher, while Babylon Berlin<\/em> producer X Filme Creative Pool hosted a dinner at its new Berlin HQ for producers.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe frontrunner in this year\u2019s contest is Norwegian director Joachim Trier\u2019s Cannes Grand Prix winner Sentimental Value<\/em>, with nominations in the best film, director and screenplay, while co-stars Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd\u00a0are nominated for best actress and actor, respectively.<\/p>\n
\n\tOther strong contenders include Oliver Laxe\u2019s Morocco-set drama\u00a0Sir\u0101t<\/em> with four nominations, followed by Mascha Schilinski\u2019s debut film\u00a0Sound of Falling<\/em>\u00a0and Jafar Panahi\u2019s\u00a0It Was Just An Accident<\/em> with three nominations each.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis year\u2019s awards are being hailed as a landmark edition.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt is the first edition to take place in January, following a decision to move the event from its traditional December slot, while the ceremony unfolding in Berlin\u2019s House of World Cultures (Haus der Kulteren der Welt), has also been revamped.<\/p>\n
\n\tIrish Scottish filmmaker Mark Cousins (The Eyes Of Orson Welles<\/em>, The Storms of Jeremy Thomas<\/em>) is curating the event, working alongside a creative team also including film composer Dascha Dauenhauer and stage director Robert Lehniger, and has promised \u201ca live film essay\u201d celebrating European cinema.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt has been quite of a transition year for us,\u201d said Wouter\u00a0Knol, <\/em>explaining how the date change also set in motion an overhaul of the three-step selection process. <\/em>\u201cIt\u2019s a complex pan-European process. We have made sure that films were made available much earlier for members. They had a much longer time to watch the films, which is a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe suggests the date change is already bearing fruit in terms of getting right-holders and audiences to engage with both the awards and European cinema.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNow we\u2019re in the middle of the awards season and this is the period of the year in which audiences, not just professionals, are interested in watching nominated films\u2026 We\u2019ve seen quite a growth in rights-holders \u2013 exhibitors, distributors \u2013 \u00a0organizing special screenings for both European Film Academy members and general audiences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen European films are nominated internationally and in the same period they\u2019re nominated for the European Film Awards, then, let\u2019s promote the films in Europe more as well, or at least make sure that European audiences benefit from the promotion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe cites a six-week pilot season at Germany\u2019s Yorck Kino cinema chain showcasing nominated films and introduced by people connected to the productions or EFA members.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis move wasn\u2019t about putting the awards in the spotlight but rather about putting European cinema more in the spotlight on all levels and the new date seems to be delivering on that,\u201d he said, adding that publicists working on Oscar campaigns also see the European Film Awards as a way to connect with European voters.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe says that EFA held talks with Hollywood awards organizations before settling on the January 17 date, which falls six days after the Golden Globes; one day after voting on nominations for the Academy Awards closed, and as Oscar hopefuls take a breather from campaigning ahead of the nomination announcement on January 22.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe most important thing for us is that the talent can attending which makes the awarsd show that. Since the beginning before the decision was taken, we were in close touch with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Helen Hoehne, and like the whole team behind the Golden Globes, and with the Academy Awards,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWith AMPAS, we\u2019ve been speaking from the beginning and saying we wanted to go in this window. We spoke to the festivals surrounding it, including Sundance, which normally starts n the Thursday after this date.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tEFA also canvassed talent agents and producers on the logistics of getting cast and crew to Berlin in this period, and on whether this was feasible, and the conclusion was that this Saturday\u2019s slot made most sense. <\/p>\n
\n\tNoting that the ceremony alternates between taking place in Berlin and another European city, Wouter Knol said the weekend after the Golden Globes is locked in for the 2027 ceremony in Athens and the 40th edition back in Berlin the following the year.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe have contracts and this has all been set in motion. The dates are set. We\u2019re already working on both ceremonies,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe date is not to everyone\u2019s pleasure, with Unifrance\u2019s Rendez-vous in Paris impacted because the show clashes with its annual press junket this weekend, although journalists attending tonight\u2019s ceremony are expected to pick up the tail-end of the event running through to Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen it comes to industry events, markets, like the Rendez-vous, we\u2019ve also been in touch from the beginning. We both work for the same aim, which is the strengthening of French, which for us is also European cinema. So, I hope and I trust that in conversations with our French colleagues, we\u2019ll find good solutions for the future as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLooking to tonight\u2019s ceremony, Wouter Knol said the event will blend the prize-giving with multi-media tableaus and live performances reflecting on key moments of European film history as well as current themes.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt will be a visual film essay in itself and glamorous as well because its gala event, with a touch of European chic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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