Despite acclaim, European art house films struggle – The Hollywood Reporter

Films nominated for best picture this year: “Anatomy of a Fall,” directed by Justine Tritt; Jonathan Glazer, “Zone of Interest”; Matteo Garrone “Io Capitano”; Aki Kaurismäki’s “Falling Leaves”; “Green Borders” by Agnieszka Holland; “How to Have Sex” is nominated for Best Feature Film for director Mia McKenna Bruce

Capitano, Green, Fallen: Courtesy of the European Film Awards. Anatomy: Courtesy of Neon. Area: Courtesy of A24. How: Nikos Nikolopoulos/International Federation for Development.

The 2023 European Film Awards (EFAs) nominees are among the best films of the year, in Europe or elsewhere. The list of top five nominated films includes director Justine Tritt’s legal thriller Anatomy of a fall; Jonathan Glazer’s horrific Holocaust film Area of ​​interest; Refugee plays Ayo Capitanofrom Italian director Matteo Garrone, and Green border From Polish director Agnieszka Holland; And a cruel romantic comedy Fallen leavesWritten by Finnish Aki Kaurismäki. All award winners — anatomy, region And Fallen leaves It received top honors at the Cannes Film Festival, while Green border And Ayo Capitano Won plaudits at this year’s Venice Film Festival – this collection of hit films could earn a place of its own at any awards ceremony.

The quality of EFA’s programming runs deep, including first-time filmmakers such as Britain’s Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to have sex), Frenchman Stephane Castang (Vincent must die) and Spanish director Estibalez Orisula Solagorin (20,000 species of bees), whose debut was among the most exciting films on the festival circuit this year, and is all but nominated for an EFA Discovery Award for Best First Feature Film.

“They are very powerful films,” says Holland. “And I have to say that most years the international selections are stronger than the major American selections of films.”

But as the biggest stars of the European film scene arrive in Berlin on December 9 for the 36th EFA, European cinema is struggling to find its audience, and its awards ceremony is struggling to stay relevant.

The box office across Europe has rebounded dramatically from its coronavirus-era decline. Theater revenues last year rose 70 percent year-on-year to $5.6 billion (5.1 billion euros), according to figures from the European Audiovisual Observatory, a media think tank, although they are still about a third below the pre-pandemic peak. Even more worrying for the local industry is that the top 20 films of the year, in terms of theatrical admission, were all Hollywood productions.

“There is clearly a segment of the theater audience for European films that has not returned to the cinema on a regular basis,” says European Film Academy president Mike Downey, who points out that European film audiences tend to skew older, a demographic that has been more cautious about returning to the cinema. Theaters. “This is what the industry needs to focus on in the next few years, (bringing) European (film) audiences back to cinemas.”

Pan-European distribution, or lack thereof, is one of the biggest problems. Many of this year’s EFA Prize nominees are local successes, but without a strong US partner to launch and promote them, they are struggling to translate this success across EU borders.

“The way these films are produced, sold and distributed makes it difficult for people to see them across Europe,” says Matthijs Wouter Knoll, CEO of the European Film Academy.

Noll points to last year’s EFA Best Film winner Triangle of sadness, which grossed around $20 million at the EU box office thanks in part to a more coordinated rollout. The film’s financing structure, which included co-producers and distributors from Europe’s three largest markets (the UK, France and Germany), meant that Ruben Östlund’s satire of capitalism was able to translate its festival buzz into pan-European success.

To enhance their profile, EFAs will change their dates. After next year’s event, the EFA will take a 13-month break, holding its 2026 ceremony in mid-January, a strategic date between the Golden Globes and the conclusion of Oscars voting.

“The Oscars play a very important role in the visibility of European films,” says Noll. “By positioning ourselves in the middle of (awards season), we believe we can benefit from giving European Film Award winners greater visibility and better promotion ahead of the Oscars,” he added.

This story first appeared in the December 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.