Back in 2023, the European Film Academy announced that, starting in 2026, the European Film Awards ceremony would take place in January, instead of its usual December slot. This improved placement during the international awards season - both the US and the European one - is aimed at boosting the awards' visibility, as is the ceremony directed by filmmaker Mark Cousins (see the news). The CEO and director of the European institution, Matthijs Wouter Knol, chats with us to discuss the upcoming ceremony, which will take place on 17 January in Berlin (and for which the nominations have already been announced – see the news and the article), as well as its newly launched European Award Season programme (see the news).

Cineuropa: The inclusion of the European Film Awards at the epicentre of the awards season feels like a welcome change. What was the main reason behind it?
Matthijs Wouter Knol: The main reason is that we are aiming to achieve heightened visibility for excellent European cinema in Europe and beyond. As the European Film Academy, we work on this throughout the year. The European Film Awards are the most visible part of that work, and by repositioning the event at the core of the awards season, we see there is an appetite to promote the films more, also in Europe. For audiences who love European film, this is far better. For general awareness of European film culture, this will be far better, too.

The awards season as a concept is growing ever bigger in the media and on the internet in general, through journalists, fans, YouTubers, Twitchers and so on. Will you be setting your sights on them, too?
This has been part of our plan from the outset, and we are making progress year on year. Frankly, wouldn’t it be fantastic to have a celebration of European cinema in all 50 European countries every year at the end of the calendar year? We see and believe in real potential there.

The Excellence Awards are now back to being regular, nomination-based categories, the winner of which will be announced at the ceremony. Presumably, this procedure was altered initially so as not to slow the pace of the ceremony, but in this format, they will certainly be more interesting as part of the race. Was this the reason for the change?
In the past few decades, there have been a lot of very prestigious individual craft winners. Those categories have not been removed. But this is the first time that, through eight award categories, many outstanding people representing the various crafts of filmmaking are genuinely being honoured. This will have an impact on the duration of the ceremony. But we feel confident about two things: that once per year, the world of European cinema deserves a full evening of celebration; and that the creative team, including filmmaker Mark Cousins, who are making the ceremony a tribute to the art of cinema, will make it a very special evening. We will remember what cinema is and why we love it.

In recent years, European movies have managed to muscle their way into the US awards season more than ever before – and it looks like it will happen again this year. Why do you think this is happening?
I wonder why, in Europe, we must often validate ourselves in relation to the USA. We all know that Europe is a source of great filmmaking and always has been. In 1926, Lotte Reiniger made Prince Ahmed, one of the first European animated films. Is European animation only good when it is recognised on a stage in Los Angeles? If you look at this year’s nominees - the creativity, the versatility, the talent, the references to all sorts of European storytelling, the depth of the imagery and sounds - I am not surprised that European cinema can’t be overlooked internationally. There is true substance, soul and humanity in European filmmaking.

The new European Film Academy president is Juliette Binoche, a professional who has enjoyed an impressive, global career. Has welcoming her into the fold been related to this whole change?
Juliette Binoche embodies all of this, and has been inspiring and energising our work in recent years. With her, the European Film Awards will grow and centre on the art of filmmaking. The European Film Academy is a very international community of filmmakers. And let’s not forget: love of European cinema is not limited to Europe either.

We also know about the new European Film Award Season initiative and its programme. What are the novelties that you would like to train the spotlight on?
The European Award Season programme is taking place in partner cinemas in 125 European cities and, for the first time, also in Chile, Vietnam and Hong Kong. This is a trial that we want to build upon further through collaborations with European partners. But I am particularly excited about a pilot project in Berlin: every week, we host screenings of nominated films with special guests introducing the films. Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt joined us, Jafar Panahi came along, and Mads Mikkelsen was in town. We are doing this with the local Yorck cinemas, and the pilot is supported by Eurimages. I hope we can grow this in the rest of Europe by working together with fantastic distributors and exhibitors.