The European Film Academy has shortlisted 68 feature films for the 39th European Film Awards, which will be held in Athens on January 16, 2027, with nominations due on November 14, per deadline.com.
Forty-five films are on the fiction shortlist, including Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, and May el-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice. Awards-season frontrunners such as La Bola Negra and Lukas Dhont’s Coward are also listed.
The documentary shortlist has 15 titles, among them NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, and the French box office hit Whispers in the Woods. The animation category has eight films, including In Waves, Iron Boy and Jim Queen.
The selected films represent 40 European countries, and 25 were directed or co-directed by women. Winners will be chosen by more than 5,700 cinema professionals in about 50 countries.
Nominations in categories including best film, documentary, animation, director, actress, actor and screenwriter, as well as the Discovery – Prix Fipresci award, will be announced on November 14 during the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
The ceremony moved to January from this year’s edition, having been held in December for many years. The new date falls the day after Academy Awards nomination voting closes on January 15 and before the Oscar nominations on January 21. It also follows the Golden Globes on January 10. The timing allows European contenders to return from Los Angeles for the ceremony before resuming campaigns. At the 38th ceremony in Berlin, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value won best film, director and screenplay, along with best actor, actress and score. It later won Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.
•Featured image: ‘Woman Unknown’/TrustNordisk