Euro Pix Contending

Fest faves 'Bad," "Julia" among EFA picks
by Ken Bensinger
Daily Variety 9/21/04

SAN SEBASTIAN - The European Film Academy has announced a list of 42 films to contend for the 16th European Film Awards on Dec. 11 in Barcelona.

The selection includes Ken Loach's "Ae Fond Kiss"' Cannes opener Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education"; Toronto opener Istvan Szabo's "Being Julia"' Berlin Golden Bear winner "Head On"' "The Sea Inside," which won Javier Bardem actor honors at Venice; and Christophe Barratier's French b.o. hit "Le Choristes."

The films were selected from around 400 entries, and 1,600 EFA members will vote on nominations for the European Film Awards' 17 categories. Nominations will be announced Nov. 11.

The awards are sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the Catalan government and Barcelona Town Hall.

EFA, the Spanish backers and the Assn. of Friends of European Cinema are prepping events leading up to the opening gala, EFA diretor Marion Doring said Monday at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The list of films:

"A Bride of the Seventh Heaven, Anastasia Lapsui & Markku Lehmuskallio (Finland)

"Ae Fond Kiss," Ken Loach (U.K.)

"Aftermath," Paprika Stern (Denmark)

"After Midnight," Davide Ferrario (Italy)

"Agnes and His Brothers," Oskar Rochler (Germany)

"The Alzheimer Case," Erik van Looey (Belguim)

"Avanim," Raphael Nadjari (Israel / France)

"Bad Education," Pedro Almodovar (Spain)

"Being Julia," Istvan Szabo (U.K. / Hungary / Canada)

"Caterina in the Big City," Paolo Vizi (Italy)

"Le Choristes," Christophe Barratier (France / Switzerland)

"Code 46," Michael Winterbottom (U.K.)

"The Consequences of Love," Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)

"Don't Move," Sergio Castellito (Italy)

"The Edukators," Hans Weingartner (Germany / Austria)

"5x2," Francois Ozon, (France)

"Free Radicals," Barbara Albert (Austria / Germany / Switzerland)

"Girl with a Pearl Earring," Peter Webber (U.K. / Luxembourg)

"Head On," Faith Akin (Germany)

"Hector," Gracia Querejeta (Spain)

"Honey Baby," Mika Kaurismaki (Germany / Finland / Latvia / Russia)

"Immortal," Enki Bilal (France)

"In the City," Cesc Gay (Spain)

"Just Bea," Petter Naess (Norway)

"Kontroll," Nimrod Antal (Hungary)

"Look at Me," Agnes Jaoui (France)

"Love Actually," Richard Curtis (U.K.)

"Love in Thoughts," Achim von Borries (Germany)

"My Stepbrother Frankenstein," Valery Todorovsky (Russia)

"Niceland," Fridrik Thor Fridriksson (Iceland / Germany / Denmark / U.K.)

"Our Music," Jean-Luc Godard (France / Switzerland)

"Our Own," Dmitriy Meskhiev (Russia)

"Singing Behind Screens," Ermanno Olmi (Italy)

"South," Martin Koolhoven (Netherlands)

"Take My Eyes," Iciar Bollain (Spain)

"The Last Soviet Movie," Aleksandrs Petukhovs (Latvia)

"The House Keys," Gianni Amelio (Italy / France / Germany)

"The Sea Inside," Alejandro Amenabar (Spain / France / Italy)

"The 7th Day," Carlos Saura (Spain / France)

"The Witnesses," Vinko Bresan (Croatia)

"Trilogy - The Weeping Meadow," Theo Angelopoulos (Greece)

"Zelary," Ondrej Trojan (Czech Republic)

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WG Press Release
EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2004
The Selection

Fourty-two European films have made it onto the selection list for the European Film Awards 2004! Choosing from this list, the 1,600 members of the European Film Academy will, in the coming weeks, select the nominations in the different award categories.

Around 400 films have been submitted for the Selection list by various organisations, film magazines, film industry associations, festivals, Academy members and producers from all over Europe. From these 400 films, the Board of the European Film Academy has chosen 42 which it recommends to the Academy members as candidates for a nomination. The nomination procedure will be completed by the beginning of November. At the same time the voting process will commence for the winners whose names will be announced during the Awards Ceremony on Saturday, December 11 at the Forum in Barcelona.

Presented for the seventeenth time, the European Film Awards will feature in such categories as European Film, European Director, European Actress, European Actor, European Cinematographer, European Scriptwriter and, for the first time, European Composer - 17 categories in all
(see http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/htm/Categories.html for complete awards list).

The European Film Awards are presented by the European Film Academy at the invitation of the Spanish Ministerio de Cultura, the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Ayuntiamento de Barcelona. As in previous years, the Awards gala will be produced by DDA Productions and broadcast by leading television companies. San Sebastian, September 20, 2004