European Film Awards.

Picking up the big ones, the equivalent of Best Film and Best Director for Cristian Mungiu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days leads a tidy group of films that scored a pair of European Film Awards each tonight.

The others:

• The Band's Visit: "European Discovery 2007" and Best Actor for Sasson Gabai.

• The Queen: Best Actress for Helen Mirren and "European Composer" for Alexandre Desplat.

• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Best Cinematography for Frank Griebe and the European Film Academy Prix d'Excellence for production designer Uli Hanisch.

Fatih Akin's been named "European Screenwriter 2007," a repeat of the Cannes jury's bizarre choice. Bizarre not because Akin isn't a vital and vivacious filmmaker - he is - but because he and editor Andrew Bird freely admit to completely overhauling the structure of The Edge of Heaven at the editing table. Not that it's helped, I'm sorry to report to my fellow Akin fans. Despite occasional, almost erratic surges of energy here and there, I'm afraid we'll have to count Heaven among his weakest works yet.

Best Documentary goes to Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers, by Rithy Panh; Best Short to Alumbramiento, by Eduardo Chapero-Jackson.

You know about the Prix Fipreschi for Alain Resnais and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Jean-Luc Godard.

Honored with similar nods are Michael Ballhaus and Manoel de Oliveira.

Posted by dwhudson at December 1, 2007 4:36 PM