Introduction
European filmmakers, EFA Members, guests, nominees and winners gathered to celebrate European cinema at its finest at the 29th European Film Awards in Wrocław, European Capital of Culture 2016.
The 29th edition of the awards ceremony was celebrated at Wrocław’s National Forum of Music (NFM), designed by Kuryłowicz & Associates, a multi-venue facility including a concert hall with 1,800 seats in parterre, amphitheatre, choir and on three balconies.
Announcing and presenting the winners of the European Film Awards in 22 categories were actresses Veerle Baetens (Belgium), Cécile de France (Belgium), Aistė Diržiūtė (Lithuania), Malin Levanon (Sweden), Ángela Molina (Spain), Maja Ostaszewska (Poland), Ludivine Sagnier (France) and Kasia Smutniak (Poland) and their male colleagues Numan Acar (Germany), Carlos Areces (Spain), Liam Cunningham (Ireland), Daniel Olbrychski (Poland) and Tom Wlaschiha (Germany). They were joined onstage by Wim Wenders, the President of the European Film Academy, directors Susanne Bier (Denmark), Volker Schlöndorff (Germany) and Małgorzata Szumowska (Poland), and the legendary Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner.
The ceremony also included Irish composer Stephen Rennicks, Spanish actress Adriana Ugarte, and actors Christian Berkel (Germany), Dave Johns (UK) and Trystan Pütter (Germany) as ‘patrons’ for the ‘European Film’ nominees.
Pierce Brosnan was honoured with the European Achievement in World Cinema award, Jean-Claude Carrière received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Leontine Petit got the European Co-Production Award 2016 – Prix EURIMAGES. Among the guests of the ceremony also were production designer Benoît Barouh (France), sound designer Dean Humphreys (UK), make-up artist Waldemar Pokromski (Poland) and composer Giuliano Taviani (Italy), all of them members of the excellence awards jury.
The 1,200 guests at the NFM, another 500 at the New Horizons Cinema where the show was simultaneously transmitted, and all those at home watching live from 20.15 CET on TVN in Poland, online at www.www.europeanfilmawards.eu, or with one of the other broadcasters and online platforms, were welcomed by Polish actor Maciej Stuhr, host of the 29th European Film Awards.
