The more than 3,000 members of the European Film Academy – filmmakers from across Europe – have voted for this year’s European Film Awards. At the awards ceremony in Riga the following awards were presented:
European Film 2014
Ida (2013) / PL-DK / 82 minutes / bw / Soloban Dir: Paweł Pawlikowski Pro: Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzięcioł & Ewa Puszczyńska Scr: Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Paweł Pawlikowski Cine: Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski Mus: Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen Cast: Agata Kulesza (Wanda Gruz), Agata Trzebuchowska (Ida Lebenstein), Joanna Kulig (singer), Dawid Ogrodnik (Lis, a saxophonist), Jerzy Trela (Szymon Skiba), Adam Szyszkowski (Feliks Skiba), Artur Janusiak, Halina Skoczynska, Mariusz Jakus Release Date: 11 September 2013 (Poland) Sinopsis: Poland 1962. Anna is a novice, an orphan brought up by nuns in the convent. She has to see Wanda, the only living relative, before she takes her vows. Wanda tells Anna that Anna is Jewish. Both women start a journey not only to find their family tragic story, but who they really are and where they belong. They question their religions and ideas they believed in. Both are trying to go on living but only one of them can. (Official website)
Ida has been selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards. It has won most prestigious Polish and European industry awards, including Best Film given by Polish Film Academy, and Best Film awarded by European Film Academy.
See my previous post here
Probably one of the best films of the year.
Read more at The European Film Academy here
A Crime is Afoot 
Many thanks for your note and the link, Jose Ignacio! Needless to say, the European Film Awards are largely ignored by the media over here in the US, so this is extremely useful information.
You’re welcome John. I do hpoe Ida will have a broader audience in the US if it’s finally nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.
John – I don’t know if you’ve seen Ida, but I can’t recommend it highly enough. A must-see.
Yes, ma’am! I’ll be sure to give it a watch when I can! Honest! 🙂
No rush! 🙂
Ida is in my top three films of the year, for sure. Such a poignant story, beautifully told in haunting images.
I’m glad you liked it that much. Which ones are the other two?
Ooh, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin – three very different films.
Oh! We watched Under the Skin last night and were hugely disappointed by it — not quite to the level of the Indy‘s critic (“laughably bad”), but it really did nothing for us. It seemed to me that Glazer had watched far too much Tarkovsky without having the great man’s “eye”. Oddly enough, I came away thinking it probably worked far better in the novel upon which it was based.
But, who knows, maybe I’ll chance across it again one day and love it.
Oh, that’s really interesting although I’m very sorry to hear that you found it disappointing. It’s inevitable I think with a film as unusual as Under The Skin that it’s going to divide opinion. It is very different to the novel — the two are completely different ‘works’ in my mind — but I found the film genuinely surprising. I didn’t know where it was going to take me next even though I’d read the novel. A very disturbing film though, and that soundscape is so eerie!
I hadn’t thought about the connection with Tarkovsky until you mentioned it, but yes, I can see that! Nic Roeg and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey are other influences. I’m sorry the film let you down as it’s disappointing when something doesn’t live up to expectations…
Oh, the other film I loved this year was Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. It felt like the film he was born to make, the one he’s been leading up to for a while. Have either of you seen it?
I believe Under the Skin has not been released in Spain, only at Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. I might be missing something but Boyhood does not appeal to me. Anyway based on your opinion Jacqui I might watch it one of these days.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts if you do. But if it doesn’t appeal, it doesn’t appeal…we all have different tastes!
Certainly The Grand Budapest Hotel, is also worth seeing in my view, Jacqui. Here is my post entry: https://jiescribano.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/film-the-grand-budapest-hotel-directed-by-wes-anderson/