‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Seed of the Sacred Fig,’ ‘Room Next Door’
Lead European Film Award Nominations

By Ryan Lattanzio, indiewire
November 5, 2024

Films like "The Substance," "Flow," "No Other Land," "Vermiglio," and "The Girl with the Needle" also had strong showings with nods in multiple categories.

The 37th European Film Awards, which take place annually in the lakeside Swiss city of Lucerne, have unveiled their nominations for 2024. Unsurprisingly, the list is led by French director Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language cartel musical “Emilia Pérez” with four nominations including European Film and Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascón.

Surprisingly, Audiard, previously a five-time EFA nominee, has never won a prize from the European Film Academy, which boasts more than 5,000 members across the continent. Getting a boost is Mohammad Rasoulof’s Iranian family thriller “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” with three nominations including European Film. It’s Germany’s submission for the International Feature Oscar this year due to its dominantly European production despite filming in secret in banished director Rasoulof’s home country.


'Emilia Pérez' ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

European Film Award staple Pedro Almodóvar’s Venice Golden Lion winner “The Room Next Door” notched four noms including European Film, Director, Actress for Tilda Swinton, and Screenplay. “The Substance” earned two nominations including European Film and European Screenplay for Coralie Fargeat, repeating her honor at Cannes. Both films are figuring into the domestic Academy Awards race.

Documentaries made a strong showing in the European Film category, with “Dahomey,” “Bye Bye Tiberias,” “In Limbo,” “No Other Land,” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” all landing in the top category as well as in the documentary section. (Same goes for Animated, per EFA’s new aims to now include those films in the top category.) Italy’s Oscar submission and Venice Golden Lion runner-up “Vermiglio” shows up also in the European Film and European Director (for Maura Delpero). Latvia’s animated gem “Flow” vies for both European Film and best animated film. “Bird,” which opens in the U.K. this weekend, earned nominations for director Andrea Arnold and beloved star Franz Rogowski. Denmark’s Oscar entry “The Girl with the Needle” earned three nominations, while Norway’s pick “Armand” earned two, including for actress Renate Reinsve.



Oscar-contending actors Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) and Daniel Craig (“Queer”) landed as the only representatives for their respective films, though “Conclave” star Isabella Rossellini will receive a career achievement prize at the ceremony.

The awards take place on December 7 for the last time ahead of a move to January in 2026. See the full list as announced early on Tuesday, November 5 below. 15 films in total vie for the top prize.



European Film

“Bye Bye Tiberias” (BYE BYE TIBERIADE) (France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar) – documentary film, directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin & Ossama Bawardi

“Dahomey” (France, Senegal) – documentary film, directed by Mati Diop, produced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou-Lévy & Mati Diop

“Emilia Pérez” (France) – feature film, directed by Jacques Audiard, produced by Pascal Caucheteux, Jacques Audiard, Valérie Schermann & Anthony Vaccarello

“Flow” (STRAUME) (Latvia, France, Belgium) – animated feature film, directed by Gints Zilbalodis, produced by Matīss Kaza, Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens & Gregory Zalcman

“In Limbo” (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland) – documentary film, directed by Alina Maksimenko, produced by Filip Marczewski

“Living Large” (ZIVOT K SEZRÁNÍ) (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia) – animated feature film, directed by Kristina Dufková, produced by Matej Chlupacek, Agata Novinski & Marc Faye

“No Other Land” (Palestine, Norway) – documentary film, directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal, produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor & Hamdan Ballal

“Savages” (SAUVAGES) (Switzerland, France, Belgium) – animated feature film, directed by Claude Barras, produced by Nicolas Burlet, Laurence Petit, Barbara Letellier, Carole Scotta, Vincent Tavier, Hugo Deghilage, Annemie Degryse & Olivier Glassey

“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” (France, Belgium, Netherlands) – documentary film, directed by Johan Grimonprez, produced by Daan Milius & Rémi Grellety

“Sultana’s Dream” (EL SUEÑO DE LA SULTANA) (Spain, Germany, India) – animated feature film, directed by Isabel Herguera, produced by Chelo Loureiro, Diego Herguera, Fabian Driehorst, Mariano Baratech & Iván Miñambres

“The Room Next Door” (Spain) – feature film, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, produced by Agustín Almodóvar & Esther García

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (DANAYE ANJIR-E MOABAD) (Germany, France) – feature film, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, produced by Mohammad Rasoulof, Amin Sadraei, Jean-Christophe Simon, Mani Tilgner & Rozita Hendijanian

“The Substance” (UK, United States, France) – feature film, directed by Coralie Fargeat, produced by Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner

“They Shot the Piano Player” (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru) – animated feature film, directed by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, produced by Cristina Huete, Serge Lalou, Sophie Cabon, Bruno Felix, Janneke van de Kerkhoff, Femke Wolting & Humberto Santana

“Vermiglio” (Italy, France, Belgium) – feature film, directed by Maura Delpero, produced by Francesca Andreoli, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Santiago Fondevila Sancet & Maura Delpero

European Documentary

“Bye Bye Tiberias” (BYE BYE TIBERIADE) (France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar), directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin & Ossama Bawardi

“Dahomey” (France, Senegal), directed by Mati Diop, produced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou-Lévy & Mati Diop

“In Limbo” (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland), directed by Alina Maksimenko, produced by Filip Marczewski

“No Other Land” (Palestine, Norway), directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal, produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor & Hamdan Ballal

“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” (France, Belgium, Netherlands), directed by Johan Grimonprez, produced by Daan Milius & Rémi Grellety

European Director

Andrea Arnold for “Bird”
Jacques Audiard for “Emilia Pérez”
Pedro Almodóvar for “The Room Next Door”
Mohammad Rasoulof for “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Maura Delpero for “Vermiglio”

European Actress

Renate Reinsve in “Armand”
Karla Sofía Gascón in “Emilia Pérez”
Trine Dyrholm in “The Girl with the Needle”
Vic Carmen Sonne in “The Girl with the Needle”
Tilda Swinton in “The Room Next Door”

European Actor

Franz Rogowski in “Bird”
Ralph Fiennes in “Conclave”
Lars Eidinger in “Dying”
Daniel Craig in “Queer”
Abou Sangare in “Souleymane’s Story”

European Screenwriter

Jacques Audiard for “Emilia Pérez”
Magnus von Horn & Line Langebek for “The Girl with the Needle”
Pedro Almodóvar for “The Room Next Door”
Mohammad Rasoulof for “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Coralie Fargeat for “The Substance”


European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI

“Armand” (Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden), directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, produced by Andrea Berentsen Ottmar

“Hoard” (UK), directed by Luna Carmoon, produced by Loran Dunn, Helen Simmons & Andrew Starke

“Kneecap” (Ireland, UK), directed by Rich Peppiatt, produced by Patrick O’Neill, Trevor Birney & Jack Tarling

“Santosh” (UK, France, Germany), directed by Sandhya Suri, produced by Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner, Carole Scotta & Eliott Khayat


“The New Year That Never Came” (ANUL NOU CARE N-A FOST) (Romania, Serbia), directed and produced by Bogdan Mureșanu

“Toxic” (AKIPLĖŠA) (Lithuania) directed by Saulė Bliuvaitė, produced by Giedre Burokaite

European Animated Feature Film

“Flow”
“Living Large”
“Savages”
“Sultana’s Dream”
“They Shot the Piano Player”

European Short Film

“2720”
“Clamor”
“The Exploding Girl”
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”
“Wander to Wonder”

European Young Audience Award

“Lars is LOL” (Norway, Denmark), directed by Eirik Sæter Stordahl, produced by Caroline Hitland & Matilda Appelin

“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” (Norway), directed by Benjamin Ree, produced by Ingvil Giske

“Winners” (Germany), directed by Soleen Yusef, produced by Sonja Schmitt, Marc Schmidheiny & Christoph Daniel