Sorrentino's "The Great Beauty" takes top prize at European Film Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - Paolo Sorrentino's Italian drama The Great Beauty, a sort-of-update of Federico Fellini's classic La Dolce Vita, was the great winner of the 26th European Film Awards, taking best film, director and actor trophies. The film, which premiered in Cannes, is Italy's candidate for the 2014 best foreign language Oscar, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Blue Is the Warmest Color, the erotic Cannes Palme d'Or winner about two woman in love from Tunisian-French director Abdellatif Kechiche, was snubbed, going home empty-handed.

Sorrentino, who took the European Director honor, was unable to attend this year's EFAs, as he is currently sitting on the jury for the Marrakech international film festival. But his lead actor, Toni Servillo was on hand to accept his European Actor trophy for his role as an aging and cynical society reporter cutting his way through Rome's great and powerful.

The biggest upset of the night came in the actress category, when Belgian star Veerle Baetens won the European Actress trophy, beating out bigger names -- including Keira Knightley, Naomi Watts and Barbara Sukowa -- for her portrayal as a tattooed bluegrass singer in Felix van Groeningen's sleeper hit The Broken Circle Breakdown.

Though The Great Beauty ran away with the 2013 EFAs, there was no clear favorite going into this year's awards. If there was any single thread connecting the diverse selection of nominees, it appeared to be nostalgia. Features as diverse as Sorrentino's The Great Beauty Kechiche's Blue is the Warmest Color, the black and white silent drama Blancanieves from Spain's Pablo Berger and Oh Boy from German first-timer Jan Ole Gerster, all seemed to look back to the roots of European cinema for their stylistic and thematic inspiration.

Romanian producer Ada Solomon, winner of this year's European co-production prize, the Prix Eurimages, commented on the trend when she accepted her award, saying it was time to drop the nostalgia and look forward.

Among the more cutting-edge films honored at the EFAs were Joshua Oppenheimer's ground-breaking documentary The Act of Killing, which took the European Documentary honor. The acclaimed non-fiction film, in which members of Indonesian's death squads reenact their mass-killings in the cinematic genres of their choice, recently made the Oscar shortlist and is considered one of the front runners for the Academy Award next year.

Best animated feature also went to the most innovative title nominated, The Congress from Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman. Folman noted the anti-Hollywood sci fi satire, which stars Robin Wright, was a "true European co-production" with the animated work done by hundreds of animators in 9 European countries.

The inaugural European Comedy honor went to Susanne Bier for her romantic comedy Love is All You Need. Lead actress Trine Dyrholm accepted on behalf of Bier, who is currently on location shooting her next feature, A Second Chance.

German director Gerster took home the European Discovery award, the Prix Fipresci for best first feature for Oh Boy, a black-and-white dramedy which traces a single day in the life of a 30-something slacker in Berlin.

French director Francois Ozon took the best screenplay honor for the script to his literate thriller In The House, about a precocious high school student who infiltrates and disrupts the life of his French teacher.