The White Ribbon wins three European Film Awards
Story by Jack Foley
MICHAEL Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner, The White Ribbon, topped the European Film Awards on Saturday, winning three of the top prizes.
The black and white film, a disturbing drama that chronicles the strange goings-on in a remote and dysfunctional village in 1913 Germany, was named best film, while Haneke took the best director and screenwriter accolades.
The triumph marked Haneke’s second major success at the European Film Awards since 2005, when his mystery drama Cache (Hidden) also swept the event.
Read our review l Michael Haneke interview
Further trophies at the ceremony were presented to British Oscar winner Kate Winslet, who won best actress for The Reader, and Tahar Rahim, who was named best actor prize for Un Prophete (A Prophet).
Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire won the People’s Choice Award, while his cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle triumphed in that category for his work on that film and Lars von Trier’s controversial Antichrist.
The inaugural award for best animated feature went to Jacques-Remy Girerd and Nora Twomey’s French-Italian coproduction Mia and the Migoo.
The European Film Academy paid special tributes to director Ken Loach, who was feted with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and French actress Isabelle Huppert, who received the European Achievement in World Cinema.
After receiving a lengthy standing ovation, Loach praised European film but stressed the difficulty it still has in attracting local audiences.
He went on to suggest that the continent should look to America for inspiration, adding: “The US government supports its steel and agricultural industries. Why can’t our politicians protect European film?”
The European Film Awards ceremony took place in the German city of Bochum as part of the celebrations surrounding Germany’s Ruhr
The main list of winners:
Film: The White Ribbon
Director: Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon
Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Actor: Tahar Rahim, A Prophet
Screenwriter: Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon
Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, Antichrist/Slumdog Millionaire
Prix D’Excellence: Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier, Jean-Paul Hurier & Marc Doisne for Sound Design, A Prophet
Composer: Alberto Iglesias, Broken Embraces
Discovery: Katalin Varga, Peter Strickland
Documentary – Prix Arte: The Sound of Insects – Record of a Mummy
Animated Feature: Mia and the Migoo, Jacques-Remy Girerd, Nora Twomey
Short Film – Prix UIP: Poste restante, Marcel Lozinski
Lifetime Achievement Award: Ken Loach
Achievement in World Cinema: Isabelle Huppert
Critics Award: Sweet Rush, Andrzej Wajda
People’s Choice for Best European Film: Slumdog Millionaire