European Film Awards. “Girl with a Needle” will compete for a nomination

In addition to “The Girl with the Needle”, the 29 titles that will compete for the EFA (European Film Award) nomination include such famous films as “Emilia Perez” by Jacques Audiard, which recently won the Jury Prize in Cannes, “Grand Tour” by Miguel Gomes, which won the award for best director, “The Substance” with Demi Moore's role considered to be the best in her career, directed by Coralie Fargeat, and “Bird” by Andrea Arnold.

This is only the first part of the titles selected to compete for nominations for this year's awards; the rest will be announced in September.

Magnus von Horn – born in Sweden a graduate of the Łódź Film School, who has lived in Poland for years, calls his film “a fairy tale about a terrible truth” that has a strong impact on the viewer's senses. In an interview with PISF, the director said: – I always wanted to make a horror film, but the longer I worked on it, the more the dramatic elements came to the surface.

His story is a Danish-Polish-Swedish co-production, and von Horn wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Danish screenwriter Line Langebek Knudsen. The black-and-white cinematographer for the film is Polish cameraman Michał Dymek, and the editor is award-winning Agnieszka Glińska.

The plot of the film, set in the early 20th century, focuses on a young woman, Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), looking for love and a sense of stability. The girl is a factory worker in Copenhagen and finds herself in a difficult life situation – she becomes unwantedly pregnant and loses her job. Desperate, she turns to a woman she meets by chance for help (Trine Dyrholm). As the creators inform: “The charismatic owner of an illegal adoption agency, she helps mothers find new homes for their unwanted children. Having no alternative, Karoline takes a job as a wet nurse for Dagmar. The women establish a bond, but Karoline's world falls apart when she discovers the shocking truth about her principal.”

“The Girl with the Needle” was one of the favorites for awards after its premiere in Cannes. Ultimately, the jury decided otherwise. In enthusiastic reviews, both European and American critics wrote about the director's “undeniable triumph”, emphasizing the film's “great potential to win awards”.

This is Magnus von Horn's third film, after the Swedish-language “Intruz” and the Polish-language “Sweat”. Both previous films were showered with awards at the FPFF in Gdynia, and the latest is already among the favorites at the upcoming 49th edition of the Gdynia event.

“Girl with a Needle” will also soon be shown at another prestigious festival: in Toronto, in the Special Presentations section.

The European Film Awards, known as the “European Oscars,” are the most prestigious awards given to films on the Old Continent. Their first winner was Krzysztof Kieślowski. The award is given in ten categories, the most important of which is Film of the Year. In the years 1988-1996, the winners received the Felix statuette.

The selection of titles that can apply for nomination is the first of three stages of selecting films that will have a chance to compete for the statuettes of the European Film Awards. The academics (5 thousand members) will start voting after the full selection is announced. Based on their votes, we will get to know the nominees in the categories of: best European film, best European director/director.

The list of selected films, which includes titles from 26 European countries – both within and outside the EU – reflects the great diversity and creativity of European cinema. European feature films are eligible to compete for the European Film Awards if, in addition to these qualitative criteria, they meet the following “technical” criteria: they were officially shown for the first time between 1 June 2023 and 31 May 2024 and were directed by a European director.

The nominations for the European Film Awards will be announced on November 5. The awards ceremony will take place on December 7 in Lucerne, Switzerland.