Holland failed, the European film of the year is Anatomy of a Fall

The drama Hranice by Polish director Agnieszka Holland, which was co-produced in the Czech Republic and tells the story of the dramatic fate of refugees on the Polish-Belarusian border, also competed for the title of best European film. But it did not change the nomination.

With Anatomie pádu, Trietová made her mark in competition with Hranice, as well as the bitter comedy Karaoke Blues by Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, the film Io capitano (I am the captain) by Italian Matteo Garrone and Zone of Interest, for which British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer received the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Anatomy of a Fall was also successful there, the director received the Palme d’Or for best film.

The winning film tells the story of the writer Sandra, who finds herself suspected of being behind the death of her husband Samuel. During the investigation, details of their tumultuous coexistence surface. “Anatomy of the Fall thoughtfully combines family and court drama. It shows that when a French film talks a lot about literature, it does not have to be snobbish boredom,” Aktuálně.cz wrote.

The Berlin success of Anatomy of a Fall is underlined by the award for best actress, which went to the German Sandra Hüllerová. The Academy awarded her for her performance in this particular drama. The judges then chose Mads Mikkelsen from Denmark as the best actor for his leading role in the historical drama Bastard directed by Nikolaj Arcel.

On Saturday, the Academy was the first to announce the prize for the best documentary, which was Sisters from the Smoke Sauna by the Estonian director Anna Hints. She already won a prize at the Sundance festival for the film, which was co-produced by Estonia, France and Iceland.

“The film introduces the audience to an Estonian smoke sauna, which belongs to the monuments on the list of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO. And there they find intimate, albeit sometimes harsh, stories of female protagonists, for whom sauna use is a ritual as well as a unique form of therapy,” wrote critic Tomáš Stejskal. Czech viewers could see Sisters from the Smoke Sauna for the first time at the Jihlava festival.

The Prix Fipresci Award for Discovery of the Year went to the drama How to Have Sex by British director Molly Manning Walker. This year it also succeeded in Cannes, specifically in the section dedicated to innovative works by lesser-known creators.

The prize for the best animated film will go from Berlin to the Spanish director Pablo Berger for Robot Dreams, which is also known under the Czech festival title Dog and his friend Robot.

Actress Vanessa Redgrave received the Lifetime Achievement Award, director Béla Tarr received an honorary award, who recently visited the Czech Republic and received an honorary doctorate from the AMU in Prague and an award for his contribution at the Jihlava Festival.

European film awards are sometimes compared to the American Oscars. The winners could be voted on by 4,600 members of the academy, which include actors, directors, critics, journalists, make-up artists or screenwriters. Director Agnieszka Hollandová has been the president of the academy since 2021. Last year, the Triangle of Sorrow by Swedish director Ruben Östlund was successful.