Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez emerged as the standout winner at the 37th European Film Awards, held in Lucerne, Switzerland. The film clinched the awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, and Best Actress in 2024.
The Best Film category showcased a diverse range of contenders, including The Room Next Door, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, The Substance, and Vermiglio. Documentaries such as Bye Bye Tiberias, Dahomey, In Limbo, No Other Land, and Soundtrack to a Coup d’État were also recognized, along with animated works like Flow, Living Large, Savages, Sultana’s Dream, and They Shot the Piano Player.
Karla Sofía Gascón took home the Best Actress award for her role in Emilia Pérez, surpassing strong performances from Renate Reinsve in Armand, Trine Dyrholm in The Girl With the Needle, Vic Carmen Sonne in The Girl With the Needle, and Tilda Swinton in The Room Next Door.
Audiard’s directorial excellence was honored with the Best Director award, outshining Andrea Arnold (Bird), Pedro Almodóvar (The Room Next Door), Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig), and Maura Delpero (Vermiglio). His screenplay for Emilia Pérez also earned him the Best Screenwriter prize, triumphing over nominees like Magnus Von Horn and Line Langebek (The Girl With the Needle), Pedro Almodóvar (The Room Next Door), Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig), and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance).
The Best Actor accolade went to Abou Sangare for Souleymane’s Story, besting Lars Eidinger (Dying), Franz Rogowski (Bird), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), and Daniel Craig (Queer).
The European Discovery Award, recognizing debut feature films, was awarded to Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for Armand. Other nominees included Luna Carmoon (Hoard), Rich Peppiatt (Kneecap), Sandhya Suri (Santosh), Bogdan Mureșanu (The New Year That Never Came), and Saulė Bliuvaitė (Toxic).
No Other Land, directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra, and Hamdan Ballal, won Best Documentary, edging out Bye Bye Tiberias (Lina Soualem), Dahomey (Mati Diop), In Limbo (Alina Maksimenko), and Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (Johan Grimonprez).
In the animation category, Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow claimed the top spot, surpassing Living Large (Kristina Dufková), Savages (Claude Barras), Sultana’s Dream (Isabel Herguera), and They Shot the Piano Player (Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal).
Additional awards included:
- Cinematography: Benjamin Kračun (The Substance)
- Editing: Juliette Welfling (Emilia Pérez)
- Production Design: Jagna Dobesz (The Girl With the Needle)
- Costume Design: Tanja Hausner (The Devil’s Bath)
- Make-Up & Hair: Evalotte Oosterop (When the Light Breaks)
- Original Score: Frederikke Hoffmeier (The Girl With the Needle)
- Sound: Marc-Olivier Brullé, Pierre Bariaud, Charlotte Butrak, Samuel Aïchoun & Rodrigo Diaz (Souleymane’s Story)
- Visual Effects: Bryan Jones, Pierre Procoudine-Gorsky, Chervin Shafaghi & Guillaume Le Gouez (The Substance)
Special honors included the European Achievement in World Cinema Award for Isabella Rossellini, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Wim Wenders, and the Eurimages International Co-Production Award for Labina Mitevska.