Youth takes top prize at European Film Awards

A composer and a film director staying in an Alpine hotel find themselves under unexpected pressure in Youth.

Paolo Sorrentino's drama Youth was the big winner at the European Film Awards last night, taking three prizes.

The film about a retired conductor and a film director under pressure at a Swiss sanotorium was named Best European Film, while Sorrentino took home the director's prize and Michael Caine was named Best Actor. It's a repeat success for Sorrentino, whose previous film The Great Beauty took five awards in 2013.

Accepting his award, Caine said: "It’s been 50 years and I’ve never won an award in Europe. And now I’ve won two in one evening. I can’t tell you what this means to me."

Caine received the additional honour of the Honorary Award of the European Film Academy President and Board, joining only two others to be given the accolade - founding member Manoel de Oliveira and French actor Michel Piccoli.

Charlotte Rampling won the Best Actress prize for her role as a married woman whose life is thrown into disarray by a woman from her husband's past in 45 Years.

Roy Andersson's A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence was named Best Comedy, Asif Kapadia's Amy won the Docuumentary prize while Tomm Moore's Song Of The Sea took home the Best Animation award.

The full list of nominees and winners is below:

Best European Film

• The Lobster
• Mustang
• A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence
• Rams
• Victoria
• Winner: Youth

Best European Actress

• Margherita Buy, Mia Madre
• Laia Costa, Victoria
• Winner: Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
• Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
• Rachel Weisz, Youth

Best European Actor

• Winner: Michael Caine, Youth
• Tom Courtenay, 45 Years
• Colin Farrell, The Lobster
• Christian Friedel, 13 Minutes
• Vincent Lindon, The Measure Of A Man

Best European Director

• Malgorzata Szumowska, Body
• Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster
• Nanni Moretti, Mia Madre
• Roy Andersson, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence
• Sebastian Schipper, Victoria
• Winner: Paolo Sorrentino, Youth

People’s Choice Award 2015 Marshland

Best European Comedy

• The Belier Family
• The Brand New Testament
• Winner: A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence

Best European Documentary

• Winner: Amy
• Dancing With Maria
• The Look Of Silence
• A Syrian Love Story
• Toto And His Sisters

European Achievement in World Cinema (Honorary Award) Christoph Waltz

FIPRESCI Prize – Best European Discovery

• Goodnight Mommy
• Limbo,
• Winner: Mustang
• Slow West
• Summers Downstairs

Best European Animated Feature

• Adama
• Shaun The Sheep Movie
• Winner: Song Of The Sea

Honorary Award of the EFA President and Board Michael Caine

Best European Short

• Dissonance
• E.T.E.R.N.I.T.
• Field Study
• Kung Fury
• Listen
• Our Body
• Over
• Winner: Picnic
• The Runner
• Smile, And The World Will Smile Back
• Son Of The Wolf
• Symbolic Threats
• This Place We Call Our Home
• The Translator
• Washingtonia

Best European Screenwriter

• Radu Jude and Florin Lazarescu, Aferim!
• Alex Garland, Ex Machina
• Andrew Haigh, 45 Years
• Winner: Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou, The Lobster
• Roy Andersson, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence
• Paolo Sorrentino, Youth

TECHNICAL WINNERS (previously announced)

Best European Cinematographer Martin Gschlacht, Goodnight Mommy

Best European Editor Jacek Drosio, Body

Best European Composer Cat’s Eyes, The Duke Of Burgundy

Best European Production Designer Sylvie Olive, The Brand New Testament

Best European Costume Designer Sarah Blenkinsop, The Lobster

Best European Sound Designer Vasco Pimentel and Miguel Martins, Arabian Nights