It is with great pleasure that the European Film Academy and EFA Productions announce the EFA Documentary Selection, a list of 15 European documentaries recommended for a nomination for this year’s European Film Awards.
Last year the European Academy changed the procedure to select the nominations in the documentary category and process became similar to the selection of short films nominees with ten (10) documentary festival recommending to EFA committee one film each which had its world premiere at the festival latest edition.
Chosen in co-operation with the European Documentary Network EDN, these festivals are:
IDFA (Netherlands)
CPH:DOX (Denmark)
Visions du Réel (Switzerland)
DokLeipzig (Germany)
Docslisboa (Portugal)
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Greece)
Jihlava (Czech Republic)
Cinéma du Réel (France)
Krakow Film Festival (Poland)
Sheffield Doc/Fest (UK)
Based on their recommendations and the films individually submitted, the documentary committee, consisting of EFA Board Members Vanessa Henneman (Netherlands), Roberto Cicutto (Italy), and Marek Rozenbaum (Israel), documentary filmmaker Alexander Nanau (Romania) and documentary expert Paul Pauwels (European Documentary Network, Belgium) decided on the EFA Documentary Selection.
Most interesting is to realize that awards organizers in general are announcing earlier this year and EFA is no exception. Had to go back to find when EFA announced the doc selection and was last September, so in 2016 it’s almost a month earlier. As a matter of fact this selection is announced before the most expected EFA long list! Not complaining as me, for one, enjoy to have more time to analyze and watch (if I haven’t) the films before the nominations are selected.
Here are the fifteen (15) documentary films that made the 2016 EFA Selection.
21 x Nowy Jork (21 x New York), Piotr Stasik, Poland
A Family Affair, Tom Fassaert, Nehterlands and Belgium
Bella e Perduta (Lost and Beautiful), Pietro Marcello, Italy
Bref Manuel de libération (We’ll Be Alright), Alexander Kuznetsov, France
Den unge Zlatan (Becoming Zlatan), Fredrik and Magnus Gertten, Sweden, Netherlands and Italy
Déjà vu, Jon Bang Carlsen, Denmark
Ein deutsches Leben (A German Life), Christian Krönes, Olaf S. Müller, Roland Schrotthofer and Florian Weigensamer, Austria
Europe, She Loves, Jan Gassmann, Switzerland and Germany
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), Gianfranco Rosi, Italy and Germany
Herr von Bohlen, André Schäfer, Germany
Mallory, Helena Třeštíková, Czech Republic
Mr. Gaga, Tomer Heymann, Israel, Sweden, Germany and Netherlands
Ο Πιο Μακρύς Δρόμος O Pio Makris Dromos (The Longest Run), Marianna Economou, Greece
Событие Sobytie (The Event), Sergei Loznitsa, Netherlands and Belgium
The Land of the Enlightened, Pieter-Jan De Pue, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany
My spontaneous reaction to the selection is one that goes to the very-surprising side as yes, selection has some well-known docs like the 2016 Golden Bear winner or the one from one of my most favorite contemporary directors, Sergei Loznitsa; but was unaware of those films by photographers (one seems to be really disturbing BUT officially “I’m dying” to see it!) and yes definitively very interested in doc about the choreographer. Info about each film is not yet at official site but know soon will be here.
Will find info, trailer and poster for each film and will post links.
Check available info and trailers @MOC
Check available posters at my Pinterest
EFA Members will now vote for five documentary nominations. Based on these nominations, the EFA Members will then elect the ‘European Documentary 2016’ which will be announced during the awards ceremony on 10 December in Wroclaw, European Capital of Culture 2016.
