November 11, 2013 - 14:47 AMT
Pedro Almodovar, Jude Law among European Film Awards nominees

Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited (Los Amantes Pasajeros) is one of four films competing for the inaugural best European comedy honor during the upcoming 26th edition of the European Film Awards, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Among other big-name nominees for various honors unveiled on Saturday, November 9 are Keira Knightley and Jude Law in the acting categories.

The comedy category is being introduced this year at the awards dished out by the European Film Academy at a ceremony to be held in Berlin on Dec. 7.

Almodovar's film is up against Riccardo Milani's Welcome Mr President! (Benvenuto Presidente), Susanne Bier's Love is All You Need (Den Skaldede Frisor) and The Priest's Children (Svecenikova Djeca), directed by Vinko Bresan.

The best European film nod will go to one of the following nominees: Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Color, Giuseppe Tornatore's The Best Offer, Blancanieves, written and directed by Pablo Berger, Felix van Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown, which got the most nominations overall, The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) by Paolo Sorrentino, and Jan Ole Gerster's Oh Boy!

Berger (Blancanieves), van Groeningen (Broken Circle), Kechiche (Adele), Sorrentino (Great Beauty) and Tornatore (Best Offer) will be joined by François Ozon for In The House (Dans La Maison) in the race for EFA's best director award.

Law (Anna Karenina), Johan Heldenbergh (The Broken Circle Breakdown), Fabrice Luchini (In The House), Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty) and Tom Schilling (Oh Boy!) will duke it out for the evening's best actor nod, while Knightley (Anna Karenina), Veerle Baetens (The Broken Circle Breakdown), Barbara Sukowa (Hannah Arendt), Naomi Watts (The Impossible) and Luminita Gheorghiu (Child's Pose) are all nominated in the best actress category.

The European screenwriter award will be chosen by the Academy members from Tom Stoppard (Anna Karenina), Tornatore (The Best Offer), Carl Joos and van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown), Ozon (In the House) and Sorrentino & Umberto Contarello (The Great Beauty).

The nominations were announced during the Seville European Film Festival. The more than 2,900 EFA members will now vote for the winners.