Cold War heads Golden Arch nominations

Eastern Europe and western Asia film awards celebrate second year

by Amber Wilkinson

Cold War is up for eight awards, including acting gongs for Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot
Cold War is up for eight awards, including acting gongs for Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot

Cold War leads the nominations for the second East – West. Golden Arch awards. Pawel Pawlikowski's tale of an impossible romance set against the backdrop of post-war Europe – which picked up seven gongs in the Polish Film Awards earlier this week – is up for eight awards, including Best feature, director and cinematography as well as nominations for its stars Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot.

Kirill Serevrennikov's depiction of a love triangle in Eighties Leningrad, Summer, and Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov's The Man Who Surprised Everyone – about a man who takes on the identity of a woman in order to trick death – also received multiple nominations

The East – West. Golden Arch award was inaugurated in 2018 and aims to celebrate the best films produced in the countries of eastern Europe and western Asia. Established by the Confederation of Cinematographers Unions – an organisation that embraces professional cinematic unions of the former USSR countries – the awards aim to draw attention to films from regions that are often overshadowed by more commercial, predominantly English-language cinema. The awards are voted on by a global jury of academics and film critics.

The Award Ceremony will be held in Moscow on April 17.

The shortlisted films in each category are below:

Best Fiction Feature Film

  • Cold War (director: Pawel Pawlikowski. Poland, UK, France, 2018)
  • The Man Who Surprised Everyone (directors: Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. Russia, Estonia, France, 2018)
  • Summer (director: Kirill Serebrennikov. Poland, UK, France, 2018)
  • The Wild Pear Tree (director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Turkey, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Sweden, 2018)

Best Director

  • Nuri Bilge Ceylan (The Wild Pear Tree. Turkey, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Sweden, 2018)
  • Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War. Poland, UK, France, 2018)
  • Kirill Serebrennikov (Summer. Poland, UK, France, 2018)

Best screenplay

  • Radu Jude ("I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians" Director: Radu Jude. Romania, 2018)
  • Sergey Loznitsa (Donbass. Ukraine. 2018)
  • Natalya Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov (The Man Who Surprised Everyone. Russia. 2018)
  • Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War. Poland, UK, France. 2018)

Best Cinematography

  • Kaloyan Bozhilov (Aga. Bulgaria, Germany, France. 2017)
  • Matyas Erdely (Sunset. Hungary, France. 2017)
  • Giorgi Shvelidze (Namme. Georgia, Lithuania. 2017)
  • Lukasz Zal (Cold War. Poland, UK, France. 2018)

Best Production Design

  • Elena Okopnaya (Dovlatov. Russia, Poland, Serbia. 2018)
  • Andrey Ponkratov (Summer. Russia. 2018)
  • Laszlo Rajk (Sunset. Hungary, France. 2017)

Best Music

  • Roman Bilyk and German Osipov (Summer. Russia, 2018)
  • Marcin Masecki (Cold War. Poland, UK, France. 2018)
  • Laszlo Melis (Sunset. Hungary, France. 2017)

Best Actor

  • Tomasz Kot (Cold War. Poland, UK, France. 2018)
  • Milan Maric (Dovlatov. Director: Alexey German Jr. Russia, Poland, Serbia, 2018)
  • Evgeniy Tsyganov (The Man Who Surprised Everyone. Russia. 2018)

Best Actress

  • Martina Apostolova (Irina. Director: Nadejda Koseva. Bulgaria. 2018)
  • Joanna Kulig (Cold War. Poland, UK, France. 2018)
  • Samal Yeslyamova (Ayka. Russia, Germany, Poland, Kazakhstan, China. 2018)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Roman Bilyk (Summer. Russia. 2018)
  • Murat Cemcir (The Wild Pear Tree. Turkey, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Sweden. 2018)
  • Borys Szyc (Cold War. Poland, UK, France. 2018)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

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