EFA. Winners.

"Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah swept the 2008 European Film Awards, taking home five trophies," reports Peter Knegt, introducing the full list at indieWIRE. "Held in Copenhagen Saturday evening, the 21st edition of the awards saw Garrone's critically lauded Mafia pic take honors for best film, directing, screenwriting, cinematography and acting (for Toni Servillo, an award he earned jointly for Il Divo). Other winners included Kristin Scott Thomas, taking acting honors for I've Loved You So Long, and Steve McQueen's Hunger, which won the European Discovery Award."

Updated through 12/9.

Update, 12/9: "Perhaps inevitably," writes Xan Brooks, "the EFAs struggle to draw mainstream press attention (were it not for the fact that [Judi] Dench picked up a lifetime achievement gong it seems a safe bet most British publications would have ignored it altogether). And this, surely, is a shame. What the EFAs lack in star wattage they more than make up for in quality. And if anything they serve more of an obvious point than something like the Baftas, which still can't quite make up its mind whether it's a celebration of UK cinema or an Oscar warm-up act and so ends up being a little bit of both."

"Spanish director of photography Oscar Faura has won two awards so far for his work on supernatural thriller The Orphanage, so he must have thought he was on a roll as the European film awards got underway in Copenhagen on Saturday night." Tim Lusher, also in the Guardian: "He was apparently confused by the presenters' flattering commentary and jumped up to collect the award for best cinematography. Only halfway up the stairs to the stage, with his delighted face relayed on to large video screens and a live TV audience, did the awful truth dawn - the winner was not him, but actually Marco Onorato, for his work on the mafia film Gomorrah. Faura slunk back to his seat amid nervous laughter from the black-tie audience."

The ceremony was "the perfect venue for the co-founders of the Dogme 95 manifesto, directors Lars Von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Soren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring, to take home the much-coveted achievement in world cinema award," writes Kaleem Aftab in the Independent. "Amid all the acclaim, not much was said about the biggest innovation of the movement, which would ultimately prove to be Dogme 95's lasting legacy – the use of small hand-held digital cameras.... Before Dogme 95, only Harmony Korine, with his 1997 film Gummo, had successfully shot a breakout movie on a consumer digital camera, and it did not take long for the American director to join the movement with the film Dogme #6: Julien Donkey-Boy."

Posted by dwhudson at December 6, 2008 1:46 PM