Melancholia Wins European Film Award, Trier Sends Friendly Wave

The European Film Awards don't have that much impact on awards races stateside beyond adding some momentum to the winners, in this case, Feature winner, "Melancholia," which led the field with eight nominations, also winning production design and cinematography, Tilda Swinton ("We Need to Talk About Kevin"), who won Best Actress over "Melancholia"'s Kirsten Dunst, and Documentary, Wim Wenders ("Pina"). Director Lars von Trier refused to transmit an acceptance statement, as he has stopped making them, sending instead "a friendly wave."

At the Berlin award ceremony streamed live, the European Film Academy (2,500 filmmakers from across Europe) presented winners in 17 categories, including European Film ("Melancholia"), Director (Susanne Bier, for last year's "In a Better World"), Actress (Swinton) and Actor Colin Firth, for last year's Oscar-winner "The King's Speech," which also won best editing and the European People's Choice Award. Terry Gilliam, commenting that his career was going backwards, accepted best short for "The Wholly Family" (below).

"Melancholia" beat out Michel Hazanavicius's "The Artist" (which won best composer, Ludovic Bource),  the Dardennes' "The Kid with a Bike" (which won screenplay), "In a Better World," Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech," and Aki Kaurismäki's "Le Havre."

Click here to see the 2011 EFA Nomininations.

The European Film Academy gave honorary awards to British director Stephen Frears (Lifetime Achievement) and Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (European Achievement in World Cinema 2011), as well as a surprise award to Michel Piccoli.

THE 24th EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS: WINNERS

EUROPEAN FILM 2011:
MELANCHOLIA, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lars von Trier
 PRODUCED BY: Meta Louise Foldager & Louise Vesth
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2011:
Susanne Bier for HÆVNEN (In a Better World)
EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2011:
Tilda Swinton in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
EUROPEAN ACTOR 2011:
Colin Firth in THE KING'S SPEECH
EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2011:
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike)
CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2011: Manuel Alberto Claro for MELANCHOLIA
EUROPEAN EDITOR 2011:
Tariq Anwar for THE KING'S SPEECH
EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2011: Jette Lehmann for MELANCHOLIA
EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2011: Ludovic Bource for THE ARTIST
EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011:
ADEM (Oxygen) by Hans Van Nuffel, Belgium/theNetherlands
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2011 - Pix ARTE: PINA by Wim Wenders, Germany

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2011: CHICO & RITA by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2011: THE WHOLLY FAMILY by Terry Gilliam, Italy
EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD 2011 - Prix EURIMAGES: Mariela Besuievsky, Spain
EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2011: Mads Mikkelsen, Denmark
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Stephen Frears, UK
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SPECIAL HONORARY AWARD: Michel Piccoli, France
THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD 2011: THE KING'S SPEECH by Tom Hooper, UK