06/11/2006

UK and Irish feature films and talent are strongly represented at this years European Film Awards with 11 nominations in total: five for Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ken Loach
interview: Rebecca O’Brien
film profile] ( see Focus), two for Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’ The Road to Guantanamo [+see also:
trailer
film profile], two for Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto and two for Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

The Irish/UK co-production Breakfast on Pluto [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is perhaps the biggest surprise as a contender for Best European Film of 2006, with The Road to Guantanamo, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Grbavica [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbara Albert
interview: Jasmila Zbanic
film profile], The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile] (see Focus) and Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile] (see Focus). Jordan’s film, produced by Parallel Films Productions and Number 9 Films, first screened in Berlin’s Panorama section last February. Rising Irish star Cillian Murphy is nominated for his performance as a transvestite in the film, as well as for his part as an Irish doctor who fights for his country’s independence in Loach’s Palme d’Or winning film.

Winterbottom – who was nominated three times at the 2003 European Film Awards for his fictional documentary In This World, following two young Afghanis smuggled across Europe to the UK – is now nominated twice for his compelling docudrama about the experiences of the “Tipton Three” in America's controversial, offshore detention camp at Guantanamo and has a good chance of winning the Best Director award with co-director Mat Whitecross, a prize they already won in Berlin earlier this year.

Two UK co-productions also picked up several nominations: Danish film After the Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sisse Graum Jørgensen
interview: Susanne Bier
film profile], in the running for Best Director (Susanne Bier) and Best Actor (Mads Mikkelsen), and Spanish film The Secret Life of Words [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Coixet
film profile] (see focus) by Isabel Coixet, nominated for Best Actress (Sarah Polley).

Another major UK personality, veteran producer Jeremy Thomas, will be awarded the European Achievement in world cinema 2006-Prix Screen International during the EFA awards ceremony in Warsaw on December 2.