‘Fatherland,’ ‘La Bola Negra,’ ‘Fjord’ Lead European Film Award Nominations

Pawel Pawlikowski’s German black-and-white period drama Fatherland, and La Bola Negra, a gay Spanish epic from director Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, are the frontrunners for the 2027 European Film Awards, with Fatherland racking up 11 EFA nominations to 10 for La Bola Negra.

Both Fatherland and La Bola Negra picked up EFA noms in the best European film, European director, European screenwriter and European cinematographer categories, with Fatherland also receiving European actress and European actor noms for leads Hanns Zischler and Sandra Hüller for their performances, respectively, as Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann and daughter Erika.

Hüller received a second best European actress nom, for her starring role as a 17th-century woman masquerading as a man in Markus Schleinzer’s Rose. She’s going up against Penélope Cruz, nominated for Florian Zeller’s Bunker; Léa Seydoux for her leading role in Marie Kreutzer’s Gentle Monster; Mathilde Arcel for her performance in May el-Toukhy’s Venice Festival winner Woman Unknown; and Renate Reinsve for her starring role in Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or-winning Fjord.

Sebastian Stan, who plays Reinsve’s fundamentalist Christian husband in Fjord, received a best European actor nomination, alongside Zischler; Javier Bardem, nominated for Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved; Swann Arlaud for his turn in Emmanuel Marre’s A Man of His Time; and Andrew Scott, nominated for his performance in Simon Stone’s Elsinore as Ian Charleson, the British actor dying of AIDS who throws himself into a final performance of Hamlet.

Nominated for best European film, alongside Fatherland and La Bola Negra, are Fjord, Woman Unknown and La Gradiva, a French coming-of-age drama from first-time director Marine Atlan.

Best European director nominees, alongside Pawlikowski and Ambrossi/Calvo, are Mungiu for Fjord, Sandra Wollner for the German drama Everytime and Andrey Zvyagintsev for the Russian crime thriller Minotaur.

The European Animation Film nominees are: In Waves, directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen; Iron Boy from Louis Clichy; Jim Queen, directed by Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané; Lucy Lost, directed by Olivier Clert; and Viva Carmen from Sébastien Laudenbach.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s NAZA, an exposé of Israel’s war in Gaza, produced by The Guardian and Britain’s JW Films, was nominated for best European documentary, alongside Letters From the Silenced Country from director Andrei Kutsila; Pegah Ahangarani’s Rehearsals for a Revolution; To Hold a Mountain from directors Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić; and Whispers in the Woods, directed by Vincent Munier.

All of the best animation and best documentary nominees are also nominated in the best European film category.

The 39th European Film Awards will be held in Athens on Jan. 16, 2027.

The full list of 2027 European Film Award nominees is below.

European Film

Fatherland, director: Paweł Pawlikowski

Fjord, director: Cristian Mungiu

In Waves, director: Phuong Mai Nguyen

Iron Boy (Le Corset), director: Louis Clichy

Jim Queen, director: Marco Nguyen, Nicolas Athané

La Bola Negra, directors: Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi

La Gradiva, director: Marine Atlan

Letters From the Silenced Country (Listy), director: Andrei Kutsila

Lucy Lost, director: Olivier Clert

Naza, directors: Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

Rehearsals for a Revolution, director: Pegah Ahangarani

To Hold a Mountain (Planina), directors: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić

Viva Carmen (Carmen, L’Oiseau Rebelle), director: Sébastien Laudenbach

Whispers in the Woods (Le Chant des Forêts), director: Vincent Munier

Woman Unknown (Kvinde Ukendt), director: May el-Toukhy

European Animation Film

In Waves, director: Phuong Mai Nguyen

Iron Boy (Le Corset), director: Louis Clichy

Jim Queen, directors: Marco Nguyen, Nicolas Athané

Lucy Lost, director: Olivier Clert

Viva Carmen (Carmen, L’Oiseau Rebelle), director: Sébastien Laudenbach

European Documentary

Letters From the Silenced Country (Listy), director: Andrei Kutsila

Naza, director: Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

Rehearsals for a Revolution, director: Pegah Ahangarani

To Hold a Mountain (Planina), directors: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić

Whispers in the Woods (Le Chant des Forêts), director: Vincent Munier

European Director

Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi for La Bola Negra

Cristian Mungiu for Fjord

Paweł Pawlikowski for Fatherland

Sandra Wollner for Everytime

Andrey Zvyagintsev for Minotaur

European Screenwriter

Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi, Alberto Conejero for La Bola Negra

Cristian Mungiu for Fjord

Paweł Pawlikowski, Henk Handloegten for Fatherland

Sandra Wollner for Everytime

Simon Liashenko, Andrey Zvyagintsev for Minotaur

European Actress

Mathilde Arcel in Woman Unknown

Penélope Cruz in Bunker

Sandra Hüller in Fatherland

Sandra Hüller in Rose

Renate Reinsve in Fjord

Léa Seydoux in Gentle Monster

European Actor

Swann Arlaud in A Man of His Time

Javier Bardem in The Beloved

Andrew Scott in Elsinore

Sebastian Stan in Fjord

Hanns Zischler in Fatherland

European Casting Director

Nina Haun, Magdalena Szwarcbart, Karen Lindsay Stewart for Fatherland

Eva Leira, Yolanda Serrano for La Bola Negra

Jessica Ronane for Elsinore

European Cinematographer

Gris Jordana for La Bola Negra

Frank van den Eeden for Coward

Łukasz Żal for Fatherland

European Composer (Original Score)

Volker Bertelmann for Bunker

Tara Nome Doyle for Rose

Alberto Iglesias for Bitter Christmas

European Costume Designer

Doris Bartelt for Rose

Ana López Cobos for La Bola Negra

Rebecca Richmond, Jūlija Volkinšteine for Woman Unknown

European Editor

Alberto Gutiérrez for La Bola Negra

Gesa Jäger for Yellow Letters

Paweł Pawlikowski, Piotr Wójcik for Fatherland

European Make-up & Hair Artist

Pablo Morillas, Marilo Osuna for La Bola Negra

Evalotte Oosterop, Pierre Olivier Persin for Coward

Waldemar Pokromski for Fatherland

European Production Designer

Roger Bellés for La Bola Negra

Olivier Meidinger for Rose

Katarzyna Sobańska, Marcel Sławiński for Fatherland

European Sound

Robert Farr, Lars Ginzel, Benjamin Hörbe for Naza

Lars Ginzel, Tarn Willers for Fatherland

Rodrigo Madrigal, Anna Harrington, Alejandro López, Mayte Cazorla for La Bola Negra

European Discovery – Prix Fipresci

17, director: Kosara Mitic

At Night, director: Beatrice Gibson

Cute, director: Marlene Emilie Lyngstad

Flesh & Fuel (Du Fioul Dans les Artères), director: Pierre Le Gall

The Guest (Gæsten), director: Mads Mengel

Thirteen in Gaza, director: Hosam Abu Dan