'Fatherland' Leads European Film Awards With 11 Nominations

By Elena Vasquez

Paweł Pawlikowski's "Fatherland" has taken 11 nominations for the 39th European Film Awards, one more than Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's "La Bola Negra." The European Film Academy announced the nominations on Saturday at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece. Winners will be revealed on Jan. 16 in Athens.

The nominations rest on votes from the academy's 5,700 members. "Fatherland" centers on the relationship between writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika. "La Bola Negra," a triptych about the history of gay men's sexuality, took 10 nominations. Both films shared the best director prize at Cannes.

Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner "Fjord" follows in third place with five nominations. Markus Schleinzer's "Rose" took four. May el-Toukhy's "Woman Unknown," winner of Venice's Golden Lion, received three. "Bunker," "Coward," "Elsinore," "Everytime" and "Minotaur" took two nominations each. The takeaway: two films dominate the field, and both arrive with Cannes credentials.

Who competes for the directing prize?

Pawlikowski, Calvo and Ambrossi, and Mungiu are nominated for best director. Sandra Wollner joins them for "Everytime," as does Andrey Zvyagintsev for "Minotaur," winner of Cannes' Grand Prix.

The screenwriter category mirrors the director list. Alberto Conejero co-wrote "La Bola Negra" with Calvo and Ambrossi. Henk Handloegten co-wrote "Fatherland" with Pawlikowski. Simon Liashenko co-wrote "Minotaur" with Zvyagintsev. Mungiu and Wollner wrote their films alone.

What do the acting races look like?

Sandra Hüller holds two of the six best actress slots, nominated for both "Fatherland" and "Rose." She competes with:

• Penélope Cruz for "Bunker"
• Léa Seydoux for "Gentle Monster"
• Renate Reinsve for "Fjord"
• Mathilde Arcel for "Woman Unknown," the Venice best actress winner

Best actor nominations went to Javier Bardem for "The Beloved," Andrew Scott for "Elsinore," Sebastian Stan for "Fjord," Swann Arlaud for "A Man of His Time" and Hanns Zischler for "Fatherland."

Which documentaries and animated films are nominated?

Best documentary nominees include "NAZA," winner of Venice's Special Jury Prize, and "Rehearsals for a Revolution," winner for best documentary at Cannes. The full list:

• "NAZA," directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (United Kingdom)
• "Letters From the Silenced Country" ("Listy"), directed by Andrei Kutsila (Poland, Lithuania, Germany)
• "Rehearsals for a Revolution," directed by Pegah Ahangarani (Czech Republic, Spain)
• "To Hold a Mountain" ("Planina"), directed by Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić (Montenegro, Serbia, France, Slovenia, Croatia)
• "Whispers in the Woods" ("Le Chant des Forêts"), directed by Vincent Munier (France)

The animation category runs heavily French. Nominees are "Viva Carmen" ("Carmen, L'Oiseau Rebelle") by Sébastien Laudenbach, "Lucy Lost" by Olivier Clert, "Jim Queen" by Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané, "Iron Boy" ("Le Corset") by Louis Clichy and "In Waves" by Phuong Mai Nguyen.

Which craft categories did the leaders sweep?

"La Bola Negra" earned additional nominations across nearly every craft branch: casting (Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano), cinematography (Gris Jordana), editing (Alberto Gutiérrez), make-up and hair (Pablo Morillas and Marilo Osuna), production design (Roger Bellés) and sound. "Fatherland" matched it in depth, with nominations for its casting team of Nina Haun, Magdalena Szwarcbart and Karen Lindsay Stewart, cinematographer Łukasz Żal, editors Pawlikowski and Piotr Wójcik, make-up artist Waldemar Pokromski, production designers Katarzyna Sobańska and Marcel Sławiński, and sound designers Lars Ginzel and Tarn Willers.

Other craft nominees include composers Volker Bertelmann for "Bunker," Tara Nome Doyle for "Rose" and Alberto Iglesias for "Bitter Christmas," plus cinematographer Frank van den Eeden for "Coward."

The European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI, awarded with the International Federation of Film Critics for a first full-length fiction film, went to a committee-chosen list of six titles, including "17" by Kosara Mitic, "At Night" by Beatrice Gibson, "Cute" by Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, "Flesh & Fuel" by Pierre Le Gall, "The Guest" by Mads Mengel and "Thirteen in Gaza" by Hosam Abu Dan.

The academy has already announced the European Young Audience Award and European Short Film Award nominations, along with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award winner. With 21 combined nominations, "Fatherland" and "La Bola Negra" enter the Jan. 16 Athens ceremony as the films to beat.