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| Sentimental Value Photo: Kasper Tuxen/Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival |
Joachim Trier's story, co-written with Eskil Vogt, shows two sisters (Reinsve and Inger Ibsdotter Illeas) grappling with their relationship with their filmmaker father (Skarsgård) in the wake of their mother's death, also stars Elle Fanning in support.
Collecting the prize, Trier said: “I think we’re at a core moment when we all have to take into account that the other is not our enemy, and that art can help us, at best, create empathy in the darkness. Together with strangers, we can laugh and cry in the cinema. So this is also a plea to keep cinema alive, because it is a place where many of us grew up and learned about being human.”
It was also a good night for Oliver Laxe’s Sirāt, which sees a man and his young son hook up with a group of rave-goers as he hunts for his missing daughter. It secured awards for Best European Production Designer, Best Sound Design, Best Editor, Best Casting Director and Best Cinematographer. Scottish-based director Laura Carreras won the European Discovery prize for her tale of a warhehouse fulfilment worker On Falling.
Jafar Panahi, whose It Was Just An Accident was also up for awards, opened the ceremony in Berlin with an impassioned speech concerning the need to speak out abou “the unprecedented massacre” unfolding in his homeland Iran.
He was speaking in response to the violent crackdown by Iran’s hardline government on nationwide protests. Thousands of protestors are believed to have been killed, with Panahi citing a report of 12,000 deaths in his speech.
He said: “This is not just the pain of one country if the world does not respond to this blatant violence today. Not only Iran but the entire world is at risk. Violence left unanswered becomes normalised and when it become normalised, it’s spread become contagious.
“When the truth is crushed in one place, freedom suffocates everywhere. Then no one is safe. Anywhere in the world, not in Iran, not in Europe, not in America"
He added: "Silence is a participation in darkness.”
The winners of the categories European Lifetime Achievement Award (Liv Ullmann), European Achievement in World Cinema Award (Alice Rohrwacher) and Eurimages International Co-Production Award (Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski) had already been announced.
Award winners in full:
Best European Film - Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier
Best European Director - Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
Best European Actress - Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value
Best European Actor - Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value
Best European Animated Feature Film - Arco (France), directed by Ugo Bienvenu
Best European Documentary - Fiume o Morte! (Croatia, Slovenia, Italy) Directed by Igor Bezinović
European Cinematographer - Mauro Herce for Sirāt
Best European Screenwriter - Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
Best European Editor - Cristóbal Fernández for Sirāt
European Composer (Original Score) - Hania Rani for Sentimental Value
European Casting Director - Nadia Acimi, Luís Bértolo & María Rodrigo for Sirāt
Best European Make-up & Hair Artist - Torsten Witte for Bugonia
European Sound Designer - Laia Casanovas for Sirāt
European Production Designer - Laia Ateca for Sirāt
European Costume Designer - Sabrina Krämer for Sound Of Falling
European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI - On Falling (United Kingdom, Portugal), directed by Laura Carreira
European Young Audience Award - Siblings (Italy), directed by Greta Scarano
European Short Film – Prix Vimeo - City of Poets, directed by John Smith
