First wave of titles announced for 2023 European Film Awards, including Berlin and Cannes favourites

The European Film Academy has unveiled its list of 19 films handpicked for the academy members to review, which will be bolstered by additional titles from summer festivals, set to be announced next month.

Among the titles, several prestigious films from Berlin and Cannes have made the cut.

The Palme d’Or winner, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, has been selected, as well as other Cannes alumni including Jury Prize winner (and one of our favourites from this year’s festival) Fallen Leaves, Kidnapped, Firebrand, Alice Rohrwacher’s fascinating La Chimera, and Ken Loach’s latest social realist drama, The Old Oak – which did not impress us.

The awards have also acknowledged How to Have Sex, the winner of the Certain Regard Award.

The Berlinale has a fair share of films on the line-up: 20,000 Species of Bees, the excellent Femme, The Teachers’ Lounge, and Christian Petzold’s Afire, the film that won the Grand Jury Prize and which made our Top 15 Movies of 2023 (so far) list.

To be eligible for the awards, films must have had their first official screening between 1 June 2022 and 31 May 2023, and have a European director – with a few exceptions, for example refugees living in Europe.

Over the next few weeks, the academy’s vast membership will critically evaluate these films, paving the way for the nomination announcement on 7 November.

Last year’s ceremony took place in Iceland; this year, Berlin will host the awards ceremony on 9 December.

Here is the selection so far:

20,000 Species of Bees (Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)Afire (Christian Petzold)Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)Behind the Haystacks (Asimina Proedrou)Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (Elene Naveriani)La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)Close Your Eyes (V?ctor Erice)Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurism?ki)Femme (Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping)Firebrand (Karim A?nouz)The Goldman Case (Cedric Kahn)The Happiest Man in the World (Teona Strugar Mitevska)How to Have Sex (Molly Manning Walker)Kidnapped (Marco Bellocchio)The Old Oak (Ken Loach)Safe Place (Juraj Lerotic)Slow (Marija Kavtaradze)The Teachers’ Lounge (Ilker ?atak)

The European Film Awards (EFA) will take place on 9 December 2023 in Berlin.