European Film Awards: France’s ‘Emilia Pérez’ and Spain’s ‘The Room Next Door’ lead nominations

The European Film Academy has announced the nominees in key categories of the 37th European Film Awards, which will be held in the Swiss city of Lucerne on 7 December.  

Double Cannes winner and French Oscar entry Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard and this year’s Golden Lion winner The Room Next Door by Pedro Almodóvar lead the nominations, with both films nominated for Best European Film, Director and Screenplay, as well as Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascón in Emilia Pérez and Tilda Swinton in The Room Next Door. 

Other frontrunners include Germany’s Oscar entry The Seed of the Sacred Fig by exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, which has been nominated for Best Film, Director and Screenplay. 

Other notable nominations include Andrea Arnold’s Bird and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance.  

For the first time this year, films nominated for Best European Documentary and Best Animated Feature Film are also eligible in the Best European Film category. This means that the Best European Film nominations list for 2024 is larger than previous years, and includes titles like Mati Diop’s Golden Bear winner Dahomey and Latvian Gints Zilbalodis’ animated film Flow.  

Another change will take place after this year’s European Film Awards: the 2024 ceremony will be the last time it takes place in December. From 2026 onwards, the ceremony will take place in January, so that the awards are part of the wider awards season conversation.

The European Film Awards are something of a bellwether for which EU titles are likely to be nominated in the upcoming US awards season.  

Last year, Anatomy of a Fall won four of the five major prizes, including Best European Film, and went on to nab five Oscar nominations. Director Justine Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. 

Here are the 2024 nominations:  

Best European Film 

• BYE BYE TIBERIAS (BYE BYE TIBERIADE) (France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar), directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin & Ossama Bawardi 

• DAHOMEY (France, Senegal), directed by Mati Diop 

• EMILIA PÉREZ (France), directed by Jacques Audiard 

• FLOW (STRAUME) (Latvia, France, Belgium), directed by Gints Zilbalodis 

• IN LIMBO (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland), directed by Alina Maksimenko 

• LIVING LARGE (ŽIVOT K SEŽRÁNÍ) (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia), directed by Kristina Dufková 

• NO OTHER LAND (Palestine, Norway), directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal 

• SAVAGES (SAUVAGES) (Switzerland, France, Belgium), directed by Claude Barras 

• SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (France, Belgium, Netherlands), directed by Johan Grimonprez 

• SULTANA’S DREAM (EL SUEÑO DE LA SULTANA) (Spain, Germany, India), directed by Isabel Herguera 

• THE ROOM NEXT DOOR (Spain), directed by Pedro Almodóvar 

• THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (DANAYE ANJIR-E MOABAD) (Germany, France), directed by Mohammad Rasoulof 

• THE SUBSTANCE (UK, United States, France), directed by Coralie Fargeat 

• THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru), directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal 

• VERMIGLIO (Italy, France, Belgium), directed by Maura Delpero

Best European Documentary 

• BYE BYE TIBERIAS (BYE BYE TIBERIADE), directed by Lina Soualem 

• DAHOMEY (France, Senegal), directed by Mati Diop 

• IN LIMBO (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland), directed by Alina Maksimenko 

• NO OTHER LAND (Palestine, Norway), directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal 

• SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (France, Belgium, Netherlands), directed by Johan Grimonprez

Best European Director 

• Andrea Arnold for BIRD 

• Jacques Audiard for EMILIA PÉREZ 

• Pedro Almodóvar for THE ROOM NEXT DOOR 

• Mohammad Rasoulof for THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG 

• Maura Delpero for VERMIGLIO

Best Actress 

• Renate Reinsve in ARMAND 

• Karla Sofía Gascón in EMILIA PÉREZ 

• Trine Dyrholm in THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE 

• Vic Carmen Sonne in THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE 

• Tilda Swinton in THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Best Actor 

• Franz Rogowski in BIRD 

• Ralph Fiennes in CONCLAVE 

• Lars Eidinger in DYING 

• Daniel Craig in QUEER 

• Abou Sangare in SOULEYMANE’S STORY

Best Screenplay 

• Jacques Audiard for EMILIA PÉREZ 

• Magnus von Horn & Line Langebek for THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE 

• Pedro Almodóvar for THE ROOM NEXT DOOR 

• Mohammad Rasoulof for THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG 

• Coralie Fargeat for THE SUBSTANCE

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI 

• ARMAND (Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden), directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel 

• HOARD (UK), directed by Luna Carmoon 

• KNEECAP (Ireland, UK), directed by Rich Peppiatt 

• SANTOSH (UK, France, Germany), directed by Sandhya Suri 

• THE NEW YEAR THAT NEVER CAME (ANUL NOU CARE N-A FOST) (Romania, Serbia), directed by Bogdan Mureșanu 

• TOXIC (AKIPLĖŠA) (Lithuania) directed by Saulė Bliuvaitė

European Young Audience Award 

• LARS IS LOL (Norway, Denmark), directed by Eirik Sæter Stordahl 

• THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN (Norway), directed by Benjamin Ree 

• WINNERS (Germany), directed by Soleen Yusef

Previously Announced Nominations 

Best European Animated Film (announced on 9 October) 

• FLOW directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia, France, Belgium)  

• LIVING LARGE directed by Kristina Dufková (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia)  

• SAVAGES directed by Claude Barras (Switzerland, France, Belgium)  

• SULTANA’S DREAM directed by Isabel Herguera (Spain, Germany, India) 

• THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru)

Best European Short Film (announced on 16 Oct) 

• 2720 directed by Basil da Cunha (Portugal, Switzerland) 

• CLAMOR directed by Salomé Da Souza (France) 

• THE EXPLODING GIRL directed by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (France) 

• THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT directed by Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia) 

• WANDER TO WONDER directed by Nina Gantz (The Netherlands, France, Belgium, United Kingdom)

The winners of the 2024 European Film Awards will be unveiled in Lucerne, Switzerland on 7 December. Italian actress Isabella Rossellini will receive the European Achievement in World Cinema Award at the ceremony.