European University Film Award

The European University Film Award (EUFA) is celebrating its fifth anniversary in an online edition. Since last year, the EUFA has been part of the European Film Awards as a separate category and will be awarded on 10 December 2020.

The selection process and the voting are organised by FILMFEST HAMBURG and the European Film Academy (EFA) and will take place online this year due to the current contact restrictions. Delegates of 25 universities from 25 European countries will debate on the five nominated films during a three-day digital conference (8 - 10 December).

Kathrin Kohlstedde, Programmer at FILMFEST HAMBURG: “The aim of this initiative is to involve a younger audience, to spread the European idea and to transport the spirit of European cinema to an audience of university students. You can only fall in love with European Cinema by actively experiencing it. The universities we are cooperating with do a big share to that: Often, a cine-club develops from the EUFA Class. It’s very much grass root work but we believe that every little seed you foster and nourish makes a difference.”

Marion Döring: Director of the European Film Academy: “What is special about the European University Film Award is the debate it establishes between students from all over Europe. Even though they cannot physically meet this year, it is very important that we find ways to uphold this dialogue as international exchange is what is at the heart of the European idea and the work of the European Film Academy”.

This year’s participating Universities are AAB College, Kosovo; Aarhus University, Denmark; Charles University, Czech Republic; Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany; Kadir Has University, Turkey; Latvian Academy of Culture, Latvia; Linnaeus University, Sweden; Liverpool John Moores University, England; Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary; Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Romania; Tel Aviv University, Israel; University College Cork, Ireland; University of Antwerp, Belgium; University of Arts Belgrade, Serbia; University of the Aegean, Greece; University of the Basque Country, Spain; University of Beira Interior, Portugal; University of Iceland, Iceland; University of Lausanne, Switzerland; University of Lodz, Poland; University of Turku, Finland; University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle, France; University of Udine, Italy; Utrecht University, Netherlands; Vilnius University, Lithuania.

Each university’s delegate, in consultation with their fellow students, will present a favourite at the conference and work with the other participants to establish criteria for determining the best film, before voting anonymously using an online tool. The winner will be announced on 10 December as part of a series of virtual events The EFA's at Eight, produced from the European Film Academy's seat Berlin.

The nominated films:

ANOTHER ROUND
DRUK
Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Screenplay:Thomas Vinterberg & Tobias Lindholm
Producer: Sisse Graum Jørgensen & Kasper Dissing

BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ

Germany, Netherlands
Director: Burhan Qurbani
Screenplay: Martin Behnke & Burhan Qurbani
Producer: Leif Alexis & Jochen Laube, Fabian Maubach

CORPUS CHRISTI
BOZE CIALO

Poland, France
Director: Jan Komasa
Screenplay: Mateusz Pacewicz
Producer: Leszek Bodzak & Aneta Hickinbotham

SAUDI RUNAWAY

Switzerland
Director & Screenplay: Susanne Regina Meures
Producter: Christian Frei

SLALOM

France
Director & Screenplay: Charlène Favier
Producer: Édouard Mauriat

The previous recipients of the European University Film Award were PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (D: Céline Sciamma) in 2019, HAPPY AS LAZZARO (D: Alice Rohrwacher) in 2018, HEARTSTONE (D: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson) in 2017 and I, DANIEL BLAKE (D: Ken Loach in 2016.

The European University Film Award is organized by Filmfest Hamburg and the European Film Academy in close cooperation with the NECS European Network for Cinema and Media Studies and funded by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media on the occasion of Germany's Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2020. Media Partner is Cineuropa.