2021 Films
Celebrated in a hybrid format from Berlin, the 34th European Film Awards highlighted achievements in various European co-productions. While TITANE had most nominations, QUO VADIS, AIDA? and FLEE both took home three awards.
QUO VADIS, AIDA? (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, The Netherlands, France, Poland, Norway, Germany, Romania, Turkey) received the awards European Film, Director for Jasmila Žbanić and Actress for Jasna Đuričić. FLEE (Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway) by Jonas Poher Rasmussen won European Documentary, Animated Feature Film and the European University Film Award.
NINJABABY (Norway) by Yngvild Sve Flikke won European Comedy, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (USA, UK) by Emerald Fennell won European Discovery - Prix FIPRESCI, and MY UNCLE TUDOR (Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, Moldova) by Olga Lucovnicova won European Short Film.
Anthony Hopkins was honoured for his role iin THE FATHER which also received European Screenwriter for Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton.
Further awards went to GREAT FREEDOM (Crystel Fournier for Cinematography, Nils Petter Molvaer and Peter Brötzmann for Original Score), UNCLENCHING THE FISTS (Mukharam Kabulova for Editing), NATURAL LIGHT (Márton Ágh for Production Design), AMMONITE (Michael O'Connor for Costume Design), TITANE (Flore Masson, Olivier Afonso and Antoine Mancini for Make-up & Hair), THE INNOCENTS (Gisle Tveito and Gustaf Berger for Sound) and LAMB (Peter Hjorth and Fredrik Nord for Visual Effects).
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BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN
Emi, a school teacher, finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure.
Radu Jude delivers an incendiary mix of unconventional form, irreverent humour...
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TAMING THE GARDEN
An ode to the rivalry between men and nature, Taming the Garden is the story of how a powerful man indulges in an unusual hobby by having century-old trees uprooted in communities along the Georgian coast and transplanted to his private garden.
Direction: Salomé Jashi
Script: Salomé Jashi
Prod...
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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD
In 1970, filmmaker Luchino Visconti travelled throughout Europe looking for the perfect boy to personify absolute beauty in his adaptation for the screen of Thomas Mann’s "Death in Venice". In Stockholm, he discovered Björn Andrésen, a shy 15-year-old teenager, who he brought to international fam...
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TOVE
Helsinki, 1945. The end of the war brings a new sense of artistic and social freedom for painter Tove Jansson. Modern art, dizzying parties and an open relationship with a married politician: Her unconventional life puts her at odds with her sculptor father’s strict ideals. Tove’s desire for libe...
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HIVE
Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo, and along with their grief, her family is struggling financially. In order to provide for them she launches a small agricultural business, but in the traditional patriarchal village where she lives, her ambition and efforts to empower he...
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THE BANALITY OF GRIEF
Nothing is. Everything is becoming. Even life already lived.
After my wife had died, I tried to kick-start my days by throwing myself into the shooting of a new film, but when I looked through the viewfinder, I felt the motives I was focusing on were hiding what I really wanted to see. Everything... -
CONFERENCE
Natalia, a nun from a remote Russian monastery, comes to Moscow 17 years after the terrorist attack in Dubrovka Theatre. She was sent there to organise a memorial evening for the victims of the attack that happened in October 2002. We soon learn that Natalia and her family were witnesses of the a...
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I'M YOUR MAN
Alma is a scientist at the famous Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In order to obtain research funds for her work, she is persuaded to participate in an extraordinary study. For three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot tailored to her character and needs, whose artificial intelligence is inten...
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THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER
Lisa is moving out. Mara is left behind. As boxes are shifted, walls painted and cupboards built, abysses begin to open up, yearnings fill the room and an emotional rollercoaster is set in motion. A tragicomic catastrophe film. A poetic ballad about change and transience.
Direction: Ramon Zürche...
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NIGHT OF THE KINGS
A young man is sent to "La Maca", a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest, ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes with the rising of the red moon, he is designated by the boss to be the new "Roman" and must tell the other prisoners a story. Learning what fate awaits him, he begins to narrat...
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SABAYA
With just a mobile phone and a gun, Mahmud, Ziyad and their group risk their lives trying to save Yazidi women and girls being held by ISIS as Sabaya (sex slaves) in the most dangerous camp in the Middle East, Al-Hol in Syria.
Direction: Hogir Hirori
Script: Hogir Hirori
Production: Antonio Ru...
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NOWHERE SPECIAL
John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael, after the child's mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him fro...
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A SONG CALLED HATE
When Icelandic, anti-capitalist, BDSM techno band HATARI become the official entry into the Eurovision Song Contest, a rare opportunity presents itself for the band to stage what would become, one of the most internationally televised live political protests in the competitions history. Director ...
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ALL-IN
At the start of the summer season, Ismail and Hakan are preparing for their new job in a gigantic all-inclusive hotel at the Turkish Riviera. They observe the colourful swimsuits, the unemptied plates, the different ways of addressing other people, and gradually discover new opportunities to move...
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FABIAN – GOING TO THE DOGS
Berlin, 1931. Jakob Fabian works in the advertising department of a cigarette factory during the day and drifts through bars, brothels and artist studios with his wealthy friend Labude at night. When Fabian gets to know the self-confident Cornelia, he manages to shed his pessimistic attitude for ...
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POLANSKI, HOROWITZ. HOMETOWN
Roman Polanski and Ryszard Horowitz, friends from the Cracow Ghetto, came to Poland to share the most personal memories from their childhood. They revisit the past and recall a very difficult time in their lives. Having miraculously escaped the Holocaust - the one saved by Oskar Schindler, the ot...
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A NEW SHIFT
Tomas has been working underground as a coal miner for 25 years. When the mine has to close due to the general decline of coal mining, he is offered a new career as a computer programmer. He enrolls in a state-funded re-education programme, preparing him for one of the most in-demand jobs. Tomas ...
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THE PREDATORS
This is the story of two completely opposite households: the Pavone are intellectual and bourgeois, the Vismara are proletarian and fascists. They are two tribes sharing the same jungle: Rome. A trivial accident brings these two poles together. The madness of a 25-year-old will set them on a coll...
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HERE WE ARE
Aharon has devoted his life to raising his son Uri. They live together in a gentle routine, away from the real world. But Uri is autistic, and now as a young adult it might be time for him to live in a specialised home. While on their way to the institution, Aharon decides to run away with his so...
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THE FIRST 54 YEARS – AN ABBREVIATED MANUAL FOR MILITARY OCCUPATION
“Military occupation” is an abstract term, open to mistaken interpretation. What does “occupation” imply? What does it mean for people living under occupation? What means must be employed so that occupation can be implemented?
This film attempts to instill meaning in the term “occupation” in the...
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NINJABABY
NINJABABY is the story of 23-year-old Rakel, who discovers she is six months pregnant after a not so romantic one-night stand. Rakel has never wanted to be a mother and thinks it´s hard enough to take care of herself, making the task of motherhood seem impossible.
When realising she has no cho... -
BABI YAR. CONTEXT
On September 29-30, 1941, Sonderkommando 4a of the Einsatzgruppe C, assisted by two battalions of the Police Regiment South and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and without any resistance from the local population, shot dead in the Babi Yar ravine in the north-west of Kiev 33 771 Jews. The film recons...
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RIDERS OF JUSTICE
The deployed military man Markus has to go home to his teen-aged daughter Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems to be plain bad luck – until the mathematics geek Otto shows up with his two eccentric colleagues, Lennart and Emmenthaler. Otto was also a passenger on the ...
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PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME
FELKÉSZÜLÉS MEGHATÁROZATLAN IDEIG TARTÓ EGYÜTTLÉTRE
HungaryMárta, a 40-year-old neurosurgeon, falls in love. She leaves her shining American career behind and returns to Budapest to start a new life with the man. She waits for him in vain at the Liberty Bridge – he does not appear at the rendez...