The European Film Awards, now in its 22nd year, took place this year in Essen and Bochum, both in the Ruhr area which, with Essen at its heart, is one of the three European Capitals of Culture in 2010. After last night’s gala in honour of Ken Loach in Essen (see news), the awards ceremony took place tonight in Bochum.

The ceremony started with two early wins for The White Ribbon, which won both the Screenplay and Director nods for writer-director Michael Haneke. Two wins for The Prophet then seemed to suggest a close race between the two films, with Tahar Rahim and the sound designers of A Prophet receiving European Film Awards in the Best Actor and Prix d’Excellence categories respectively.
But the main award for Best European Film 2009 finally went to Haneke’s The White Ribbon, marking the second time the director won Europe’s top film award after his 2005 win for Caché [trailer, film focus]. Haneke’s star of The Piano Teacher, Isabelle Huppert, was awarded the Achievement in World Cinema Award.

Several past Oscar winners also took home awards: Danny Boyle won the Audience Award for Slumdog Millionaire, while Kate Winslet was crowned Best Actress for her role in The Reader in absentia.

U.K.-born Peter Strickland’s largely self-financed film Katalin Varga, set in Hungarian-speaking Romania, was named European Discovery of the Year.

Haneke on his wins: “If you go into a competition, then of course you’d like to win, but I didn’t expect to home again with three important European Film Awards after winning a couple of years ago for Caché”.

Haneke also supported Ken Loach’s remark, when accepting his lifetime achievement award, that a lot of European films have distribution and visibility problems in Europe. Haneke suggested that this did not apply to The White Ribbon in particular but he supports Loach’s notion that European films should be protected in a way similar to American films.

The list of winners:

EUROPEAN FILM
The White Ribbon [trailer, film focus]
directed by Michael Haneke
produced by Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Michael Katz, Margaret Menegoz & Andrea Occhipinti

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR
Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon

EUROPEAN ACTOR
Tahar Rahim in A Prophet [trailer, film focus]

EUROPEAN ACTRESS
Kate Winslet in The Reader [trailer]

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER
Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD
Anthony Dod Mantle for Antichrist [trailer, film focus] and Slumdog Millionaire [trailer, film focus]

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY PRIX D’EXCELLENCE
Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier, Jean-Paul Hurier & Marc Doisne for the Sound Design, A Prophet

EUROPEAN COMPOSER
Alberto Iglesias for Broken Embraces [trailer, film focus]

DISCOVERY AWARD
Katalin Varga [trailer, film focus]
directed by Peter Strickland
produced by Tudor Giurgiu, Oana Giurgiu and Peter Strickland

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Mia et le Migou [trailer]
directed by Jacques-Rémy Girerd

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM
Poste Restante by Marcel Lozinski

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Ken Loach

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA
Isabelle Huppert

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY – Prix ARTE
The Sound of Insects - Record of a Mummy [trailer]
directed by Peter Liechti

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD – Prix EURIMAGES
Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY CRITICS AWARD – Prix FIPRESCI
Andrzej Wajda for Sweet Rush [trailer]

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD for Best European Film
Slumdog Millionaire [trailer, film focus]
directed by Danny Boyle