How to submit your short film to the Cannes Festival - and why

If you have been thinking about entering a short film to the Cannes Festival, the deadline is March 3, 2015. That doesn't leave you much time. So what sort of questions should you be asking? I'll start with the easy one.

What are the criteria for submitting a short film?

German World Premieres at 30th Warsaw fest

14 German films and co-productions will be shown at the 'A' festival in Warsaw this year. AGNIESZKA by Tomasz E. Rudzik (Kordes & Kordes Film Süd, Arri Film & TV - photo) will have its world premiere in the 1-2 Competition for first and second films, and the same goes for WHEN UNDER FIRE - SHOOT BACK! by Marc Wiese (Engstfeld Filmproduktion) in the Documentary Competition. KAFKA'S THE BURROW by Jochen Alexander Freydank (Mephisto Film) will have its European premiere in the Free Spirits Competition for "innovative and rebellious films".

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2014

Philomena, by Stephen Frears

The European Film Academy's (EFA) People’s Choice Award enables film fans across Europe to elect their favourite film. Whereas the EFA invites Europe’s greatest film stars, directors, actors and actresses, to attend the annual European Film Awards, the People’s Choice Award sheds a spotlight on the audience's choice of films. 

The voting for this year’s award has started, with a chance to join winners and nominees for the awards ceremony in Riga!

Winners in the past have included films such as Pedro Almodóvar’s VOLVER, Roberto Benigni’s LA VITA E BELLA, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s AMÉLIE, Fatih Akin’s HEAD-ON, and Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. In 2013, the EFA People's Choice Award went to THE GILDED CAGE by Ruben Alves .

Film fans can cast their vote on the official website and possibly win a trip to the 27th European Film Awards on Saturday, 13 December 2014, in Riga, European Capital of Culture 2014.

Nominated films

BEAUTY AND THE BEASTLA BELLE ET LA BÊTE

DIRECTED BY: Christophe Gans
WRITTEN BY : Christophe Gans & Sandra Vo-Anh
MAIN CAST: Vincent Cassel, Lea Seydoux, André Dussolier

IDA
DIRECTED BY: Pawel Pawlikowski
WRITTEN BY: Pawel Pawlikowski & Rebecca Linkiewicz
MAIN CAST: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, Dawid Ogrodnik, Jerzy Trela 

NYMPHOMANIAC
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lars von Trier
MAIN CAST: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf

PHILOMENA (photo)
DIRECTED BY: Stephen Frears
WRITTEN BY: Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
MAIN CAST: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark

THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED HUNDRAÅRINGEN SOM KLEV UT GENOM FÖNSTRET OCH FÖRSVANN

DIRECTED BY: Felix Herngren
WRITTEN BY: Felix Herngren (screenplay), Hans Ingemansson (screenplay), Jonas Jonasson (novel)
MAIN CAST: Robert Gustafsson, Mia Skäringer, Alan Ford

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT

WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
MAIN CAST: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione

The winner of the EFA People’s Choice Award 2014 will be announced on stage during the European Film Awards Ceremony on 13 December in Riga.

2 scriptwriting events in Berlin

Quick news about two scriptwritng events in Berlin over the next few days: 

 
The "Short form" seminar with Thomas Frick places the emphasis on short films and commercials. In an information event , you will learn about our Full-time programs from August 2014.

The workshop will deal mostly with the basics of the screenwriting craft and the dramaturgy of short narrative structures such as commercials and short films. Parallel to the mediation of the theoretical foundations, each participant will develop his or her own, reference-enabled script in practical writing and film exercise.

New: The short form
Instructor: Thomas Frick
27-29/06/14 - Friday from 19: 00 to 21:30 - Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm - Sunday from 10.00 to 16.00
Price €249
Berlin


INVITATION TO THE EVENT INFO!
Training for authors of film & TV
The dramaturge and lecturer training
Writing for daily SOAPs & telenovelas

 If you are interested in participating in a full-time film / TV Academy programmes of the master school from August 2014, an information event is being held on Monday, the 30/06/14 at 6 pm in the seminar room master school film / TV Academy, Zossener str 41, 10961 Berlin: 

 
You can get to know the organisers personally during a question session.

The full-time programmes are based on three pillars:
1. the comprehensive mediation of the dramaturgical know-how teachers experienced over 10 years of practice
2. own material development of participants with individual advice by the instructors
3. a strong and honest market reference by working with production companies, additional industry guests, the pitching the finished script.

To participate in the information event, send a message to info@film-tv-autor.de .

Formore information about script training in Berlin, visit Master Schül Drehbuch. 

Iram Haq's "I'm Yours" wins Brussels Film fest screenplay award

 The 10-day Brussels Film festival wrapped on Saturday, with a gala screening of Hossein Amini's "The Two Faces of January". The evening was also given over to handing out awards to the films in competition. The Brussels Film Festival focuses entirely on European cinema, with films coming from places as far apart as Greece and Iceland.

The winner of the 2014 screenplay award went to "I am Yours" (Jeg er din), written and directed by Norwegian actress Iram Haq, the tale of a 27 year-old single mother's search for love in Norway. This is Haq's first film as a director, although she has been working as an actress for several year. "I am Yours" was Norway's candidate for the foreign-language Oscar this year.

The full list of winners.

► OF HORSES AND MEN (Iceland) won The GOLDEN IRIS AWARD.
► THE WHITE IRIS AWARD goes to THE REUNION (Sweden)
► JURY AWARD : ACES (Spain)
CONGRATULATIONS to Benedikt Erlingsson, Anna Odell & Alfonso Zarauza !
And also:
► FEDEX CINEPHILE AWARD: THE REUNION by ANNA ODELL
► CINEUROPA AWARD : VIS-A-VIS by NEVIO MARASOVIC
► BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD : I’M YOURS by IRAM HAQ
► AUDIENCE AWARD : THE DOUBLE by RICHARD AYOADE
► PRIME AWARD : FAREWELL TO THE MOON by DICK TUINDER
► BETV AWARD : THE DARK VALLEY by ANDREAS PROCHASKA
► RTBF AWARD : THE REUNION by ANNA ODELL

It is worth noting the three prizes that went to Anna Odell's "The Reunion".

On a personal note, other films worth watching were "Jack Strong" by Wladyslaw Pasikowski (an effective and emotional thriller based on the true story of a Polish general that worked as an agent for the CIA) and "La chambre bleue" by Mathieu Amalric.

Brussels Film Festival opens with Chambre Bleue

La chambre bleue

After showcasing his "Tournée" in 2010, the Brussels Film Festival is opening its 2014 edition with Mathieu Amalric's "Chambre Bleue" (Blue Room). The film premiered at Cannes and is being sold under the logline, "In a room, a man and a woman live their passion in secret. Their desire is intense. But one day Julien has to explain himself to the police". It's a deep and disturbing exploration of a man facing his intricate relationships with women.

The Brussels Film Festival (June 6-14) built its reputation on first and second features by European directors, and now claims to show the best of European cinema. Located in the impressive Art Deco Flagey building in Brussels, it features exclusive screenings (a total of 70), open-air shows, encounters and masterclasses.

Foremost amongst these will be a session with Alan Parker, who is also the subject of a big-screen retrospective.

Notable films in competition include "The Enemy Within", "Miss Violence", "The Double" and "Los Angeles". The festival closes with Hossein Amini's thriller "The Two Faces of January".

For details, visit the Brussels Film Festival.

UPDATE: Two screenwriting masterclasses have been announced.  On Tuesday June 10, Pierre Salvadori (Dans la cour") will talk about a recurrent theme in his work: depression. Using extracts of his films such as "Les apprentis" and "Après vous", he will talk about character weaknesses as a source of comedy, the state of comedy and the virtue of lying.

Pascal Bonitzer

In a different register, Pascal Bonitzer (La belle noiseuese) will talk about the link between intimacy and politics, seen through a comedian's eyes, and what happens when the grotesque meets the tragic. Friday June 13 from 4-6pm.

Entrance free upon reservation at +32/2/762 08 98.

François Ozon wins screenwriring award for Dans la Maison

French writer/director François Ozon won the scriptwriting award at the 2013 European Film Awards, held in Berlin December 7 2013.

Ozon, the director of "Potiche", "La Piscine" and the recent "Jeune et jolie", was representing "Dans la maison/In the House", starring Fabrice Luchini and Kristin Scott Thomas (photo).

The main winner at the event, however was the remarkable "La Grande Bellezza/The Great Beauty", which won awards for the Best Film, Best Actor (Toni Servillo), Best Director (Paolo Sorrentino) and Best Editor (Cristiano Travaglioli).

The full list of winners can be found at the EFA website.

Two German co-productions on OSCAR short list

The German co-productions AMOUR (LIEBE) by Michael Haneke (FR/AT/DE, X-Filme Creative Pool) and A ROYAL AFFAIR (DIE KÖNIGIN UND DER LEIBARZT) by Nikolaj
Arcel (DK/SE/CZ/DE, Zentropa Entertainment Berlin) are on the short list of the final nine films for the 85th Oscar® in the category for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film. This was announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on 21 December. AMOUR is in the Oscar race for Austria and A ROYAL AFFAIR for Denmark.

On 10 January, 2013, the Academy will select five films from the nine of the short list, and these titles will be part of the final selection competing for the OSCAR in this category. Altogether, 71 countries submitted their films.

Michael Haneke's Film AMOUR received awards at the beginning of December at the European Film Awards as Best Film, Best Direction as well as Best Lead Actress and Best Lead Actor. AMOUR was released in American cinemas by Sony Pictures Classics on 21 December, 2012.

A ROYAL AFFAIR won two Silver Bears at the 2012 Berlinale.

The OSCAR awards ceremony takes place on 24 February, 2013 in the newly named Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

The other films on the short list are WAR WITCH by Kim Nguyen for Canada, NO by Pablo Larrain for Chile, THE INTOUCHABLES (INTOUCHABLE) by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano for France, SISTER by Ursula Meier for Switzerland, THE DEEP by Baltasar Kormákur for Iceland, BEYOND THE HILLS by Cristian Mungiu for Romania and KON-TIKI by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg for Norway.

Sweden's "Bloody Boys" win brussels script award

The Best Screenplay Award went to Sweden's "Bloody Boys/JÄVLA POJKAR), written and directed by Shaker K. Tahrer. The films traces three families going through rupture and turmoil. More here.

The full list of awards is as follows:

• GOLDEN IRIS AWARD for best film + Cineuropa Award DEATH FOR SALE by Faouzi Bensaïdi (France/Belgique/Maroc)  
• WHITE IRIS AWARD for best first film CLIP (KLIP) by Maja Miloš (Serbia)  
• AUDIENCE AWARD ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT by Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi (Italy/Germany)   
• FEDEX CINEPHILE AWARD KAUWBOY by Boudewijn Koole (Netherlands) 
• RTBF TV AWARD QUAND JE SERAI PETIT by Jean-Paul Rouve (France)   
• Be TV AWARD NO REST FOR THE WICKED (NO HABRÁ PAZ PARA LOS MALVADOS) by Enrique Urbizu (Spain)  
• PRIME TV AWARD THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Terence Davies (USA/UK)   
• BEST SHORT FILM AWARDS: A NEW OLD STORY by Antoine Cuypers (Belgium) LE CRI DU HOMARD de Nicolas Guyot (Belgium) and ROBYN O. by Cecilia Verheyden (Belgium).

For more informtion, visit the Brussels Film festival.

Happy, Happy picks up script award in Brussels

The 9th Brussels Film Festival wrapped up last night in Brussels. The festival focuses on European cinema, paying particular attention to first and second films.

The best screenplay award offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters and the SABAM) went to

BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD

2.000€ offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters) and SABAM (Belgian Association of Authors, Composers and Publishers).

Jury : Frédéric Castadot, Annie Carels, Julie Bertrand, Jean-Baptiste Delaunoy

HAPPY HAPPY (Sykt lykkelig)

by Anne Sewitsky (Norway)

The Award was received by Ragnhild Tronvoll, screenwriter of the film.

THOMAS BIDEGAIN TO GIVE MASTERCLASS AT BRUSSELS FILM FEST

Thomas Bidegain

The 10th edition of the Brussels Film Festival is about to kick off on June 8, 2012. The festival has historically favoured first films from European directors. This year's event will have special Polish, Italian, Spanish and Walloon (the French-speaking half of Belgium) evenings.

The festival also has a series of masterclasses lined up that include Peter Aalbaek, the producer of Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg (director of "The Hunt"), Jean-Michel Bernard (Michel Gondry's composer) and directors Peter Greenaway and Lucas Belvaux. Scriptwriters should block June 10, as Thomas Bidegain, writer of two exceptional films at this year's Cannes - "De Rouille et d'Os" (Rust & Bone) by Jacques Audiard and "A perdre la raison" by Joachim Lafosse, will be giving a 4-hour masterclass from 2pm at the Flagey centre.

The official competition features 12 European films competing for a total amount of €45,500, among which €10,000 for the Golden Iris Award for best film. The jury is composed of Frédéric Fonteyne (director), Tania Garbarski (actress), Peter Greenaway (director), Edouard Molinaro (director), Koen Mortier (director), Mireille Perrier (actress) and Bernard Yerles (actor).

For details, visit Brussels Film Festival.  List of films in competition.

Raindance scriptwriting course in Brussels

The Raindance Festival's Elliot Grove will be running his masterclass "Write and Sell the Hot Script" in Brussels on May 3 & 4, 2012. Grove has been running the class for years, and has also produced a good book with the same name (see below). The course is suitable for everyone interested in the entire story process from idea to script to screen.

Roger Corman: titles as pitches

To tie in with a horror exhibition at the EMP Museum in Seattle, horror maestro Roger Corman gave some background into the success of "Dinocroc" and the ludicrous "Sharktapus". Bad news for all of us scriptwriters that sweat over spec scripts for five years: all these films came from brainstorming sessions around titles! The rest was filled in by the team.

I've sat in on these sort of projects and nearly got a horror story set in Pyrenees going because of one. Before you rush around saying, "I could do that", remember that in these cases it's not what is being said that makes the difference, it's who is saying it and to whom!

PS: if anyone is interested in a low-budget slash movie set in the Pyrenees or Europe's first car tuning movie, you know who to contact.

Daerden Brothers pick up European screenplay award

At its 24th awards ceremony in Berlin, the European Film Academy handed out its awards for 2011. As is often the case, their choice of films is strictly - almost fanatically - art-house, with Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia" picking up Best Film and "Le gamin au vélo/The Kid With the Bike" the rather unusual choice for the screenplay award. Mads Mikkelsen, Stephen Frears and Michel Piccoli were also given awards.
Von Trier skipped the event, sending his wife to pick up the award instead. The academy has 2,500 members.

• EUROPEAN FILM 2011: MELANCHOLIA, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lars von Trier PRODUCED BY: Meta Louise Foldager & Louise Vesth 
• EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2011: Susanne Bier for HÆVNEN (In a Better World) 
• EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2011: Tilda Swinton in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN 
• EUROPEAN ACTOR 2011: Colin Firth in THE KING’S SPEECH 
• EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2011: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike) 
• CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2011: Manuel Alberto Claro for MELANCHOLIA 
• EUROPEAN EDITOR 2011: Tariq Anwar for THE KING’S SPEECH EUROPEAN 
• PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2011: Jette Lehmann for MELANCHOLIA EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2011: Ludovic Bource for THE ARTIST 
• EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011: ADEM (Oxygen) by Hans Van Nuffel, Belgium/theNetherlands 
• EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2011 - Prix ARTE: PINA by Wim Wenders, Germany EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2011: CHICO & RITA by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba 
• EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2011: THE WHOLLY FAMILY by Terry Gilliam, Italy EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD 2011 - Prix EURIMAGES: Mariela Besuievsky, Spain 
• EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2011: Mads Mikkelsen, Denmark 
• EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Stephen Frears, UK 
• EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SPECIAL HONORARY AWARD: Michel Piccoli, France 
• THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2011: THE KING’S SPEECH by Tom Hooper, UK

More info: European Film Awards

Who would you have voted for as Best European Screenplay  in 2011?

GERMAN FILMS AND CO-PRODUCTIONS AT MIFF 2011

The 60th Melbourne International Film Festivals (21 July – 7 August 2011) will showcase a large number of German productions and co-productions this year.


International Panorama

DREI (THREE) by Tom Tykwer, X Filme Creative Pool
THE FUTURE by Miranda July, Razor Filmproduktion (DE/US)
IM ALTER VON ELLEN (AT ELLEN’S AGE) by Pia Marais, Pandora Filmproduktion
INNOCENT SATURDAY by Alexander Mindadze, Bavaria Pictures (RU/DE/UA)
JEAN GENTIL by Laura Guzmán, Bärbel Mauch Film (MX/DE)
LE HAVRE by Aki Kaurismäki, Pandora Filmproduktion (FR/DE/FI)
MELANCHOLIA by Lars von Trier, Zentropa International (DK/SE/FR/DE)


Prime Time

DREILEBEN – EINE MINUTE DUNKEL (DREILEBEN – ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS) by Christoph Hochhäusler, Heimatfilm
DREILEBEN – ETWAS BESSERES ALS DEN TOD (DREILEBEN – BEATS BEING DEAD) by Christian Petzold, Schramm Film Koerner & Weber
DREILEBEN – KOMM MIR NICHT NACH (DREILEBEN – DON’T FOLLOW ME AROUND) by Dominik Graf, BurkertBareiss


Accent on Asia

BI, DON’T BE AFRAID by Phan Dang Di, TR9 Film (VN/FR/DE)


Documentaries

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS by Werner Herzog, Werner Herzog Filmproduktion (US/FR/DE)
EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS by Gereon Wetzel, if productions
KHODORKOVSKY by Cyril Tuschi, Lala Films


TeleScope

SCHLAFKRANKHEIT (SLEEPING SICKNESS) by Ulrich Köhler, Komplizen Film (DE/FR/NL)


Backbeat

MICHEL PETRUCCIANI by Michael Radford, Looks Film (FR/DE/IT)


Next Gen

WINTERTOCHTER by Johannes Schmid, schlichtundergreifend (DE/PL)


Documentary Shorts

LEONIDS STORY by Rainer Ludwigs (DE/UA)


Our Space

RUHR by James Benning


See Your Music

CYMASONICS – MATRIX OPTIMIZER 1.0.1


The Light Kinetic

LIQUID/LIGHT/FLOW

TEMPUS.RUHR



Networked

MEDIANERAS by Gustavo Taretto, Pandora Filmproduktion (AR/DE/ES)


The Natural World

DARWIN AND HIS FABULOUS ORCHIDS by Ralph Heinsohn, Tilt


MIFF 60th Retrospective

CLASS RELATIONS by Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet

Happy, Happy wins script prize at Brussels film fest

The 9th Brussels Film Festival wrapped up last night in Brussels. The festival focuses on European cinema, paying particular attention to first and second films.

The best screenplay award offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters and the SABAM) went to "Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig)" (photo) a black comedy directed by Anne Sewitsky (Norway) and written by Raghnild Tronvoll.

Other winners include

• "Innocent Saturday (V Subbotu)" directed by Alexander Mindadze - Golden Iris for Best Film and Jameson Cinephile Award
  
• "Nothing's All Bad (Smukke Menesker)" by Mikkel Munch-Fals - White Irish for first feature
  
• "A Quiet Life (Una vita tranquilla)" by Claudio Cupellini - Cineuropa Award
• "Parked" by Darragh Byrne - Audience Award
• "Ni à vendre ni à louer" by Pascal Rabaté - RTBF and Be TV awards
• "Injury Time" by Robin Print - Bet Short Film Award
• "De Bijzondere Leven van Rocky De Vlaeminck" by Kevin Meul.

The short film selection can be viewed on UniversCine.

“Three” to open KINO!2011 at MoMA in New York

German Films will be presenting the 32nd edition of KINO!2011: New Cinema from Germany from 27 April-2 May 2011 as part of the annual film season curated by program founder Laurence Kardish (Senior Curator, Department of Film) at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

A total of seven new films and TV productions will be shown in the presence of numerous German artists. KINO!2011 will open with THREE (DREI) by Tom Tykwer, who will personally introduce his film which has been nominated for six German Film Awards. The US distributor, Strand Releasing, will release the film in US cinemas later in the year.

Also showing in the program: the Regina Ziegler-produced TV mini-series THE WEISSENSEE SAGA: A BERLIN LOVE STORY (WEISSENSEE) by Friedemann Fromm. The prize-winning screenwriter Annette Hess and other crew members will travel to New York for the presentation along with the director and producer. In addition, there will be screenings of the two documentaries HOW TO MAKE A BOOK WITH STEIDL by Gereon Wetzel in the presence of the director and producer Ingo Fliess, as well as DANCING DREAMS (TANZTRÄUME) by Anne Linsel. Three screenings will be dedicated to Germany’s up-and-coming generation: German Films’ short film program NEXT GENERATION 2010, as well as the German Film Award-nominated film THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN (DAS LIED IN MIR) by Florian Cossen and PICCO by Philip Koch. The Goethe-Institut New York will also be organizing a workshop with Philip Koch and Florian Cossen about their work as filmmakers.

Details at Goethe New York.

BAFTA screenwriting resource

It's always fun to see who did or didn't win the best screenwriting awards - and 2011 had some cracking good scripts. But time spent on the Bafta site turned up another gem: BAFTA screenwriters On Screenwriting. Six leading screenwriters (Simon Beaufoy, Aline Brosh McKenna, Christopher Hampton CBE, Sir David Hare, Ronald Harwood CBE and Peter Morgan) with credits including "Atonement", "The Devil wears Prada", "Frost/Nixon" and "Slumdog Millionaire" give their opinion on the craft, the films they have written and their career so far.

Visit it here.

I can't knock the awards for "The King's Speech" (original) and "Social Network" (adapted). Try and find both and read them. An education in itself.

Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) to talk in London

"The themes of [The Social Network] are as old as storytelling itself: loyalty, friendship, power, money, envy, social status, jealousy. It’s a story that if Aeschylus were alive today, he’d have written; Shakespeare would have written; Paddy Chayefsky would have written. Fortunately for me, none of those people were available, so I got to write it."

Aaron Sorkin is the award-winning scriptwriter of "A Few Good Men" and "The West Wing". He'll be at a special screening of "The Social Network" in London on January 20. The Script Factory says a few seats might be available on the night. If you're in London, break legs to get one at The Script Factory.

Polanski, Van Dormael awarded at Tallinn

Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," a story of a journalist hired to ghostwrite the memoirs of a British prime minister, was designated best film at the European Film Award in Tallinn, Estonia. Polanski, who was awarded the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival, also took five other prizes at the ceremony, including best screenwriter.

In other awards, Swiss actor Bruno Ganz was given a lifetime achievement award and Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael left with the audienc award for "Mr Nobody".

Full list of winners:

EUROPEAN FILM 2010
THE GHOST WRITER, France/Germany/UK
directed by Roman Polanski
written by Robert Harris & Roman Polanski
produced by Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde & Roman Polanski

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2010
Roman Polanski for THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2010
Sylvie Testud in LOURDES

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2010
Ewan McGregorin THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2010
Robert Harris & Roman Polanski for THE GHOST WRITER

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2010
Giora Bejach for LEBANON

EUROPEAN EDITOR 2010
Luc Barnier & Marion Monnier for CARLOS

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2010
Albrecht Konrad for THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2010
Alexandre Desplat for THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2010- Prix FIPRESCI
LEBANON, Israel/Germany/France
written & directed by Samuel Maoz
produced by Moshe Edery, Leon Edery, David Silber, Uri Sabag, Einat Bickel, Benjamina Mirnik & Illan Girard

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY - Prix ARTE 2010
NOSTALGIA DE LA LUZ (Nostalgia for the Light), France/Germany/Chile
Directed by Patricio Guzmán

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2010
THE ILLUSIONIST by Sylvain Chomet

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2010
HANOI - WARSZAWA (Hanoi – Warsaw), Poland
by Katarzyna Klimkiewicz

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD – Prix EURIMAGES 2010
Zeynep Özbatur Atakan, producer

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Bruno Ganz, actor

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2010
Gabriel Yared, composer

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD for Best European Film 2010
MR. NOBODYwritten and directed by Jaco van Dormael
produced by Philippe Godeau