On Thursday 1st December, Festival Coordinator Mireia O'Prey started on an exciting adventure to Berlin, to attend the super glamorous- EFA European Film Awards.
With my frock, shoes and all important bag sorted I managed to cram everything I needed, including the Grand Prix Award, into my bag and whisked off to Berlin.
We arrived at our unashamedly trendy German apartment located in the heart of Berlin's artistic quarter, Kreuzberg. With a bit of sightseeing under our belt on the Friday, we prepared ourselves (hair, make up, ironing, nails, hair again) for the all-important night of glitz and red carpet at the European Film Awards.
In 10 inch heels we arrived at the Tempodrom venue to a herd of paparazzi and autograph hunters ready to pounce on the next celebrity face. With a champagne reception in the foyer, the audience watched the live feed from the red carpet while waiting patiently for the guests of honour to arrive. So used to watching awards on a screen, it took a gentle nudge from the boyfriend to remind me that I didn’t need to look at the tv for the handsome Jean Dujardin (The Artist) as he was now standing right next to me!
Trying not to swoon too much we took our seats and continued the star spotting game clocking the likes of Sam Riley (Control), Wim Wenders (Pina), Terry Gilliam (Brazil), and more. German comedian and presenter (and voice of Marge in The Simpsons in Germany!) Anke ('danke') Engelke warmed the audience with a few jokes in an as yet unexplained wedding dress.
The ceremony opened with a slightly surreal image of a young boy painted in gold and Anke recreating the slow-mo bride scene from Lars von Trier's nominated film, Melancholia. Dress now explained.
The awards unfolded in the same style and glamour as the red carpet suggested with the Brits picking up some of the big hitters including Tom Hooper collecting Colin Firth's award for best actor and then Audience Choice award for the Kings Speech, and a life time achievement award to Stephen Frears. We sat there patiently for the full 3 hours, until the moment we were all waiting for- not the announcement of the EFA European Film Award 2011, but the award for best short film.
As a nominating festival, last year the Encounters Jury selected Derby by Paul Negoescu to represent the Bristol Short Film Nomination for the 2011 awards. Fingers crossed we waited eagerly. But alas the winner was announced as The Wholly Family by Terry Gilliam who jumped up to collect his award. So unfortunately Paul missed out this time, but it was great to see a fantastic selection of European short film talent up for nomination from our fellow nominating festivals.
With the official bit over, the audience herded themselves into mini busses, off to keep the festivities going at the Hotel Concorde and EFA After Show party. The evening was topped off by meeting fellow nominating festival attendees from the Norwegian Short Film Festival who we continued the party with until the early hours of Sunday.
Behind the glitz and sparkle of the awards, people were all too aware of the events taking place outside the Tempodrom and the potential impact that a failing economy may have on the European creative industries. Many of the speakers called for unity, not competition, and that so much more was at stake than a silver statuette.
President of the European Academy Awards and celebrated (and award winning) filmmaker Wim Wenders said; 'Many European summits are being held at this time of crisis. Those make us feel insecure. This one is different. It is about celebrating European culture and film. And looking at the films on offer, one could say that Europe is in very good health."
I couldn't agree more.
My wonderful weekend away came to another exciting end, when I took the role of presenting the Brief Encounters Grand Prix Award to Ulrike Vahl (or rather her friend Max as she was at work) for her film Unter Null (Below Zero). Unfortunately she could not attend the just as glamoros Encounters awards ceremony last month, but i was delighted to give it to her in person. A perfect end to a perfect weekend.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Mireia x
For the full list of nominees and awards winners visit www.europeanfilmawards.eu/en_EN/home
And for those who have not been to Berlin, or who have not visited the Brandenburg Gate- this is for you:
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