After the hard work, anticipation and excitement, the 25th European Film Awards are finally over. Paula Fleri-Soler caught up with some of the protagonists before and after the big night to share some of their thoughts.
For two days Malta hosted a number of luminaries from European cinema. They ranged from British star of stage and screen Dame Helen Mirren, who received the European Achievement in World Cinema award, to virtual unknown Best Actress nominee Margarethe Tiesel.
Margarethe Tiesel... was clearly in awe of her nomination
The latter was clearly in awe of her nomination, so much so she jokingly asked journalists to write her acceptance speech should she need one.
Actors, directors, producers and technical masters graced the red carpet at the splendid Mediterranean Conference Centre, the spectacular venue chosen for the awards.
Eventual European Screenwriter winner Thomas Vinterburg, who together with Tobias Linholm wrote The Hunt, a dark Danish drama about a man accused of paedophilia, talked about what attracted him to the subject.
The Hunt’s main character, Lukas, is played by Mads Mikkelsen, who was nominated for Best European actor but lost out to veteran Jean-Louis Trintignant in Amour.
Mikkelsen is very well known outside his native Denmark, having worked in a number of Hollywood movies including Casino Royale, in which he played villain Le Chiffre.
His profile is set to be raised even higher with his upcoming and very challenging role in NBC series Hannibal, in which a pre-The Silence of the Lambs Hannibal Lecter forms a bond with an FBI profiler.
And the winners are...
Mikkelsen is an engaging and charismatic presence; clearly enamoured of his work, happy to work both in a European environment and in Hollywood. Speaking to journalists, he echoed the overall theme of the awards, saying “it’s important to me because I’m European, and I think it’s important to focus on what we do in Europe... to know your base and cultural roots, and Europe is so diverse maybe we have nothing in common.
British designer Maria Djurkovic was named European Production Designer for her superb recreation of 1970s London in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. “I absolutely loved it from the first,” said Djurkovic of the script. “Rarely have I had such very strong impressions of what I thought a film would look like, and luckily for me it coincided with Tomas’s (Alfredson, the director) ideas. There was this sort of smoky, foggy, heavy atmosphere, but it is never actually described as smoky, foggy, heavy.”
Would she like to shoot a film in Malta? “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed in delight. “I just had a wander round here. It’s fantastic, absolutely incredible... there’s so much that’s unchanged. It’s very exciting.”
The Taviani Brothers, (Paolo, 81, and Vittorio, 83) and their Cesare Deve Morire went home empty-handed but they were possibly the most energetic of the nominees.
They talked non-stop with infectious vim and vigour about their film, their trip to the US to promote it, and its chances in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars.
The big winner of the night was Amour, about a couple in their 80s whose bond is severely tested when she becomes ill. It earned six nominations and won four, including one for director Michael Haneke, a rather taciturn Austrian who, at the post-ceremony Q&A, brightened up his brief responses and refusal to talk about future projects with comments which roughly translated as “you don’t talk about eggs which are not yet fallen from the chicken...”
Dame Helen Mirren proved to be the star attraction of the night. Mirren exuded class – expletive notwithstanding – grace and intelligence throughout her acceptance speech.
She recalled the moment when, aged 16, she walked into a cinema “that smelled of urine, beer and tobacco” and caught Antonioni’s L’Avventura. She described it as a revelation, an experience that made her realise what film could be, and it set her on the road to becoming an actress.
Backstage, she was asked what her 16-year-old self would make of Dame Helen today.
“You know, I was thinking about that today and going back in time,” she said with a smile. “You become a different person, don’t you? I would never have imagined that that was in my destiny, to be Dame Helen Mirren – that was extraordinary – and to be here to stand on that stage and get that reception... it’s really fantastic. I’m really glad I didn’t know... it would have been a disaster if I’d known,” she laughed.
Luckily, we got to find out.