This year’s European Film Awards, the European counterpart to the Oscars which honours the greatest achievements in European cinema, have spoken... And it was a night of triumphs for Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s moving and layered family drama Sentimental Value.
The film did something of a clean sweep, winning six awards, including the coveted Best European Film.
It beat 14 other films including Jafar Panahi’s engrossing Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident, Oliver Laxe’s bone-shaking post-apocalyptic odyssey Sirāt, and Mascha Schilinski’s breakthrough film Sound of Falling.
Trier won Best Director for his exploration of dysfunctional family dynamics, as well as Best Screenplay alongside his longtime writing partner Eskil Vogt.
In our review of Sentimental Value, we wrote: “Despite a predictable denouement you’ll have guessed by the end of the first act, Sentimental Value does come together as mature ode to trying one’s best and how, in some cases, life and art can converge to create something bigger." Read the full review here.
Renate Reinsve won Best European Actress for Sentimental Value, cementing once more how her pairing with Trier yields glory, following The Worst Person in the World, and how the actress is one of the most magnetic screen presences in cinema worldwide. Her win followed Stellan Skarsgård picking up Best European Actor for his role as an absentee father in Trier’s film. His speech was brief and to the point: “It feels lie coming home. I thank you with all my heart.”
Short, sweet, and possibly a bit too short-lived. Still, a merited award for Skarsgård, who recently took home a Golden Globe and cements his position as a frontrunner for the Oscars in March.
Sentimental Value also won Best Score (Hania Rani).
The sweep was somewhat unsurprising, since the EFAs have a recurring habit of awarding several awards to the same film, often to the detriment of some variety, it has to be said. This was the case last year with Emilia Pérez and also two years ago for Anatomy of a Fall.
It’s hard to be too grumpy about this when the winning film is one of our favourites of the year; however, we reiterate our call from previous years that maybe some rules and parameters should be changed so that a wider variety of films are celebrated at the end of the day.
Scroll down for the list of this year’s EFA winners.
Elsewhere, the other big winner of the evening was Oliver Laxe’s Sirāt, another one of our favourite films of 2025. It bagged five awards: Best Production Design (Leila Ateca); Best Sound Designer (Laia Casanovas); Best Editing (Cristóbal Fernández); Best Cinematography (Maura Herce); and Best Casting Direction (Nadia Acimi, Luis Bértolo and Maria Rodrio).
In our review of Sirāt, we wrote: “Whether you’re completely on board with the trip to oblivion or the ambitious swings Sirāt takes, Laxe conjures such a dizzying and invigorating trance that you’re sure to take this film home with you. Its impact will reverberate in your mind and bones.” Read the full review here.
Sound of Falling only won Best Costume (Sabrina Kramer), while Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia bafflingly went home with only Best Makeup and Hair (Torsten Witte).
The biggest surprise of the evening came in the shape of a huge snub: Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident went home empty-handed.
A politically charged and solemn ceremony
While the ceremony went smoothly and was punctuated by cutaways celebrating cinema hosted by Mark Cousins, whose passion and enthusiasm was infectious as always, the event was politically charged from the get-go.
Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi was welcomed onto the stage early on in the ceremony, introduced by Cousins as “one of the world’s greatest filmmakers”.
Panahi opened the 38th EFAs by making a statement about Iran and the recent atrocities committed by the repressive Tehran government.
“If the world does not respond to this blatant violence today, not only Iran but the entire world is at risk,” said Panahi. “Violence, when left unanswered, becomes normalized. It spreads. It becomes contagious. When the truth is crushed in one place, freedom suffers everywhere. Then no one is safe, anywhere in the world. Not in Iran. Not in Europe. Not in America.”
He concluded: “Our tasks as filmmakers and artists is harder than ever. If we are disappointed with politicians, we must at least refuse to remain silent. Because silence in a time of darkness is not neutrality. Silence is a participation in darkness.”
Sadly, Panahi cancelled his press duties earlier in the day – Euronews Culture were supposed to have a one-on-one with the director – but the EFAs giving the director a platform to comment on the strictures of censorship and how the horrors of cyclical violence continue to oppress the Iranian people was a particularly shrewd touch.
Many award recipients also expressed their solidarity for the people of Iran, as well as mentioning some of the other anxieties decrying from a barrage of recent troubling headlines: Donald Trump “stealing an award he doesn’t deserve”; filmmakers being different from politicians because they “work together, unlike politicians who make war”; the eyes of children being “sacred”, especially in conflict; and European values under attack.
Not that there wasn’t some escapism. One of the most memorable parts of the evening was European Film Academy president Juliette Binoche presenting this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award to Norwegian screen legend Liv Ullmann (Persona, Scenes From A Marriage).
A visibly moved Ullmann took to the stage to accept the award. “I’m very, very grateful,” she said to a standing ovation. But even then, the mood shifted back to current events.
“The world is strange and scary and difficult to solve – but movies can tell people why we are specifically scared now,” said Ullmann, who also mentioned how strange it was that the Nobel Prize was “suddenly going to someone else” – referring to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado recently presenting her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, a move which prompted much incredulity in Norway.
“We have laws in Norway - If you misuse a Nobel prize, we can take it away from you. So, someone in the United States will soon be disappointed.”
A bellwether for the US awards season?
This year’s ceremony took place in Berlin, at the city’s House of World Cultures – and later than usual. The EFAs typically take place at the end of the year, and 2026’s awards are right bang in the middle of international awards season, to better cement the EFAs as Europe’s rightful counterpart to the glitzy stateside show.
Hollywood is taking notice. There has been an uptick in non-English-language films in the running for major categories aside from Best International Feature, showing that major US award shows are finally opening themselves up to the rest of world cinema.
Let’s hope that the upcoming Oscar nominations (announced on Thursday 22 January) will continue to reflect quite how much European cinema has nothing to envy Hollywood when it comes to producing some of the best films out there. You can bet that Sentimental Value will be heading to the Oscars with a renewed sense of confidence.
Here is the list of this year’s EFA winners:
Best European Film
- WINNER: SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Norway, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden) -Directed by Joachim Trier
- AFTERNOONS OF SOLITUDE (Spain, France) - Directed by Albert Serra
- ARCO (France) - Directed by Ugo Bienvenu
- DOG OF GOD (Latvia, US) - Directed by Raitis Ābele & Lauris Ābele
- FIUME O MORTE! (Croatia, Slovenia, Italy) - Directed by Igor Bezinović
- IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (France, Iran, Luxembourg) - Directed by Jafar Panahi
- LITTLE AMELIE (France) - Directed by Maïlys Vallade & Liane-Cho Han
- OLIVIA AND THE INVISIBLE EARTHQUAKE (Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Chile) - Directed by Irene Iborra Rizo
- RIEFENSTAHL (Germany) - Directed by Andres Veiel
- SIRÂT (Spain, France) - Directed by Oliver Laxe
- SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH (Ukraine, France, Denmark, Sweden) - Directed by Olha Zhurba
- SOUND OF FALLING (Germany) - Directed by Mascha Schilinski
- TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, France) - Directed by David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar & Jean-Claude Rozec,
- THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (France, Tunisia) - Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania
- WITH HASAN IN GAZA (Germany) - Directed by Kamal Aljafari
Best European Director
- WINNER: Joachim Trier for SENTIMENTAL VALUE
- Yorgos Lanthimos for BUGONIA
- Oliver Laxe for SIRĀT
- Jafar Panahi for IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
- Mascha Schilinski for SOUND OF FALLING
European Actress
- WINNER: Renate Reinsve in SENTIMENTAL VALUE
- Leonie Benesch in LATE SHIFT
- Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in DUSE
- Léa Drucker in CASE 137
- Vicky Krieps in LOVE ME TENDER
European Actor
- WINNER: Stellan Skarsgård in SENTIMENTAL VALUE
- Sergi López in SIRĀT
- Mads Mikkelsen in THE LAST VIKING
- Toni Servillo in LA GRAZIA
- Idan Weiss in FRANZ
European Screenwriter
- WINNER: Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier for SENTIMENTAL VALUE
- Santiago Fillol & Oliver Laxe for SIRĀT
- Jafar Panahi for IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
- Mascha Schilinski & Louise Peter for SOUND OF FALLING
- Paolo Sorrentino for LA GRAZIA
Best European Documentary
- WINNER: FIUME O MORTE!
- AFTERNOONS OF SOLITUDE
- RIEFENSTAHL
- SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH
- WITH HASAN IN GAZA
Best European Animated Feature Film
- WINNER: ARCO
- DOG OF GOD
- LITTLE AMELIE
- OLIVIA AND THE INVISIBLE EARTHQUAKE
- TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN
European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI
- WINNER: ON FALLING (United Kingdom, Portugal) - Directed by Laura Carreira
- LITTLE TROUBLE GIRLS (KAJ TI JE DEKLICA) (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia) - Directed by Urška Djukić
- MY FATHER’S SHADOW (United Kingdom, Nigeria) - Directed by Akinola Davies Jr
- ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHEN HEMME DİES (Turkey, Germany) - Directed by Murat Fıratoğlu
- SAUNA (Denmark) - Directed by Mathias Broe
- UNDER THE GREY SKY (Poland) - Directed by Mara Tamkovich
European Young Audience Award
- WINNER: SIBLINGS (Italy) - Directed Greta Scarano
- ARCO (France) – Directed by Ugo Bienvenu
- I ACCIDENTALLY WROTE A BOOK (Hungary, Netherlands) - Directed by Nóra Lakos
Stay tuned to Euronews Culture for our exclusive interview with Oliver Laxe (Sirāt), as well as our highlights from this year’s EFA red carpet.
