30/11/2023 - With two Excellence Awards apiece, the films by Denmark's Nikolaj Arcel and Spain's JA Bayona top a list that also includes Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest and La chimera

The eight winners of the Excellence Awards have been unveiled by the European Film Academy today. The victors in the categories honouring the different arts and crafts will receive their prizes at the European Film Awards ceremony on 9 December in Berlin (read about the nominations in the main categories here).

Two films have received two awards each, and both boast major production values: Nikolaj Arcel's Venice-premiered trip back to 1755 Denmark, The Promised Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and JA Bayona's Society of the Snow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: JA Bayona
film profile], a Netflix-backed retelling of the famous plane crash in the Andes in 1973, which has already been seen in previous films, such as the US production Alive!. The former has won in the European Cinematography (for Rasmus Videbæk's work) and the European Costume Design (for Kicki Ilander's craft) categories, while the latter has snagged the award in the European Make-up & Hair (for Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribéerker's work) and the European Visual Effects (thanks to Félix Bergés and Laura Pedro) categories. Interestingly, these two wins replicate those by Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Edward Berger
film profile], last year's European Netflix awards juggernaut, which represented Germany in the Best International Feature category at the Oscars, and went on to triumph in it as well as in three other categories. JA Bayona's film, which is representing Spain this year, is aiming to repeat the feat, and is not in a bad place to do it either. Nikolaj Arcel's film is also eyeing an Oscar nomination, as Denmark's submission.

Alongside the two double winners, a bunch of remarkable European titles have been highlighted by the awards' jury. This year's Cannes Palme d'Or winner, Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile], towered above the other contenders in the European Editing category because of Laurent Sénéchal's work, while the Cannes Grand Jury Prize winner The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], directed by Jonathan Glazer, shone in the European Sound category thanks to the chilling result of Johnnie Burn and Tarn Willers' work. Two other Cannes-premiered titles have triumphed in the remaining categories: Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won European Production Design for Emita Frigato's work, and Jessica Hausner's Club Zero [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile] won European Original Score for Markus Binder's compositions.

Representing the respective crafts, the members of the jury for the Excellence Awards are: cinematographer Matteo Cocco (Italy), editor Mdhamiri Á Nkemi (UK), production designer Maria Shub (Ukraine), costume designer Armaveni Stoyanova (Bulgaria), make-up and hair artist Eglė Mikalauskaitė (Lithuania), sound designer Gina Keller (Switzerland), composer Zviad Mgebry (Georgia) and VFX supervisor Mårten Larsson (Sweden). The complete list of selection experts and nomination committees involved in the awards procedures for the 2023 European Film Awards is available here.

The winners are as follows:

European Cinematography
Rasmus Videbæk - The Promised Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Denmark/Germany/Sweden)

European Editing
Laurent Sénéchal - Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile] (France)

European Production Design
Emita Frigato - La Chimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Italy/Switzerland/France)

European Costume Design
Kicki Ilander - The Promised Land

European Make-up & Hair
Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver, David Martí, Montse Ribéerker - Society of the Snow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: JA Bayona
film profile] (Spain/USA)

European Original Score
Markus Binder - Club Zero [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile] (Austria/UK/Germany/France/Denmark)

European Sound
Johnnie Burn & Tarn Willers - The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (UK/Poland/USA)

European Visual Effects
Félix Bergés, Laura Pedro - Society of the Snow