The film industry’s spotlight is about to turn on Malta as the island prepares to host the 25th European Film Awards at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta on December 1.
Who knows which of these celebrities will walk down the red carpet at the MCC come December?
Austrian director Michael Haneke’s film Amour (Love), a heart-wrenching tale of a man and his dying wife, leads the awards race with six nominations, including best European film, best director and best screenplay.
The film won a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May and will also represent Austria in the foreign language category at the Oscars in February.
Following closely are two movies with five nominations each: the Danish drama Jagten (The Hunt), about a man accused of child molestation, and Steve McQueen’s entry Shame, which follows a man’s sex addiction. Both films are nominated in the best European film category.
Completing the list in this category are German political drama Barbara; Italian film-maker brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Cesare Deve Morire (Caesar Must Die), which is a Shakespeare adaptation set in a prison; and the French comedy hit Intouchables (Untouchable).
Thomas Alfredson’s British spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy received four nominations, including for best cinematography and European composer, while Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s theatre play Carnage got two nominations – best screenplay and best European actress (Kate Winslet of Titanic fame).
Standing out among the best European actor nominees are German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender in Shame; Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (best known as the bad guy in the James Bond film Casino Royale) in The Hunt; and veteran US actor Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Who knows which of these celebrities will walk down the red carpet at the MCC come December?
Two personalities due to attend are British actress Helen Mirren, who recently cemented her fame and world reputation with her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006), and veteran Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, known for films such as the epic 1900 (1976), The Last Emperor (1987) and The Dreamers (2003).
More than 1,000 guests, including 250 journalists, photographers and camera crew are expected to descend on the island to cover Europe’s version of the Oscars.
Organised by the European Film Academy, with the assistance of the Malta Film Commission, the awards are being televised via satellite to 50 countries, reaching out to millions of viewers.
The nominations were announced at the Seville Film Festival on Saturday.
Nominees
European Film
Barbara – Germany
Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die) – Italy
Jagten (The Hunt) – Denmark
Amour (Love) – Austria, France, Germany
Shame – UK
Intouchables (Untouchable) – France
European director
Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia)
Michael Haneke (Amour)
Steve McQueen (Shame)
Vittorio and Paolo Taviani (Caeser Must Die)
Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt)
European actor
Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy in Untouchable
Michael Fassbender in Shame
Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt
Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Love
European actress
Emilie Dequenne in A Perdre La Raison (Our Children)
Nina Hoss in Barbara
Emmanuelle Riva in Love
Margarethe Tiesel in Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love)
Kate Winslet in Carnage
European screenwriter
Michael Haneke (Love)
Christian Mungiu (Beyond the Hills)
Oliver Nakache, Eric Toledano (Untouchable)
Roman Polanski, Yasmina Reza (Carnage)
Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm (The Hunt)
European composer
Cyrille Aufort, Gabriel Yared (A Royal Affair)
François Couturier (Shun Li and the Poet)
George Fenton (The Angels’s Share)
Alberto Iglesias (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)