In the end, Ruben Östlund triumphed: His “Triangle of Sadness”, winner of the Palme d’Or in Cannes in May, made it to the top of the podium at the 35th European Film Awards and was voted Best Film 2022 – the Austrian Marie Kreutzer was also nominated came away empty-handed with her film “Corsage” – and also in the category “Best Director”, where “Triangle of Sadness” also succeeded – Östlund’s second prize that evening.
At least there was a prize for the actresses in Austria: the Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps won the prize as Empress Sisi in Kreutzer’s “Corsage”. Krieps, who switched on due to illness, prevailed against strong competitors such as Penélope Cruz and Léa Seydoux.
Östlund also scored points in the men’s category: at the celebratory gala in Iceland’s capital Reykjavík, Zlatko Burić won the fourth trophy for “Triangle of Sadness”, which had already been awarded the film prize for the best screenplay by Ruben Östlund.
From an Austrian point of view, the Viennese Kurdwin Ayub with her debut feature film “Sonne”, which was honored at the Berlinale, went away empty-handed in the category of young hopes. “I’m very realistic. The question of winning a prize often depends on the momentum, on chance,” the filmmaker had already shown reluctance to the APA in advance. The Viennese director Mo Harawe had previously not received an award for his German-Austrian-Somali co-production “Will My Parents Come to See Me” in the short film category.
However, the makers of the Spanish production “The Good Boss” were a little surprised about the award as best comedy. “It’s actually a drama,” emphasized producer Jaume Roures in his acceptance speech. “They gave the award to what are probably the two most serious people in this room,” apologized director Fernando León de Aranoa. The great Italian director Marco Bellochio was also amazed by his award for “Innovative Storytelling”, as he emphasized in his speech, which was held in Italian (“Italian is such a beautiful language!”): “I’m old. You usually get such an honour not my age anymore.”
The approximately 4,400 members of the European Film Academy make the decision about the awards. Last year, the prize gala was held virtually due to Covid. Now we have returned to the regular rhythm, according to which the European Film Prize is awarded annually, alternately in Berlin and then in another European city.