The 20th Annual European Film Awards took place on December 1, 2007 in Berlin, Germany

EUROPEAN FILM OF THE YEAR 2007

4 LUNI, 3 SAPTÂMINI SI 2 ZILE (2007)

Also Known As : 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
Director : Cristian Mungiu
Writer : Cristian Mungiu
Genre : Drama
Country : Romania | Belgium

Plot : Director Cristian Mungiu’s drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days unfolds in Romania in the late ’80s, during the last waning days of Communist rule. Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasiliu play, respectively, Otilia and Gabita, two female friends and students who share a Bucharest flat. They soon find themselves saddled with an overwhelming problem: Gabita is expecting. With abortion illegal in Romania at that time, the women seek an illicit termination at the hands of one Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) in a seedy Romanian hotel — but Bebe refuses to accept money in return for his services and demands a certain “alternate” commodity instead.

NOMINEES

AUF DER ANDEREN SEITE (2007)

Also Known As : The Edge Of Heaven
Director : Fatih Akin
Writer : Fatih Akin
Genre : Drama
Country : Germany | Turkey | Italy

Plot : The fragile lives of six people connect on emotional voyages toward forgiveness and reconciliation in Germany and Turkey. Nejat disapproves of his widower father Ali’s choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But changes his mind when he discovers she sends money home to Turkey for her daughter’s education. Yeter’s sudden death distances father and son. Nejat travels to Istanbul to find Yeter’s daughter Ayten. However, political activist Ayten is already in Germany, having to flee the Turkish police. There, she meets Lotte who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a gesture not pleasing to her conservative mother. When Ayten is eventually arrested, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey. Lotte travels to Turkey, where she gets caught up in the seemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten.

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (2006)

Also Known As : El último rey de Escocia
Director : Kevin Macdonald
Writer : Peter Morgan (screenplay), Jeremy Brock (screenplay)
Genre : Biography | Drama | History
Country : UK

Plot : Director Kevin MacDonald teams with screenwriter Jeremy Brock to adapt Giles Foden’s novel detailing the brutal reign of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin as seen through the eyes of his personal physician. James McAvoy stars as the doctor who slowly realizes that he is trapped in an inescapable nightmare, and Forest Whitaker assumes the role of the notorious despot.

LA MÔME (2007)

Also Known As : La Vie En Rose
Director : Olivier Dahan
Writer : Olivier Dahan, Isabelle Sobelman
Genre : Biography | Drama | Music
Country : France

Plot : An un-chronological look at the life of the Little Sparrow, Édith Piaf (1915-1963). Her mother is an alcoholic street singer, her father a circus performer, her paternal grandmother a madam. During childhood she lives with each of them. At 20, she’s a street singer discovered by a club owner who’s soon murdered, coached by a musician who brings her to concert halls, and then quickly famous. Constant companions are alcohol and heartache. The tragedies of her love affair with Marcel Cerdan and the death of her only child belie the words of one of her signature songs, “Non, je ne regrette rien.” The back and forth nature of the narrative suggests the patterns of memory and association.

THE QUEEN (2006)

Also Known As : La regina
Director : Stephen Frears
Writer : Peter Morgan
Genre : Biography | Drama
Country : UK | France | Italy

Plot : Diana the ‘People’s Princess’ has died in a car accident in Paris. The Queen and her family decide that for the best, they should remain hidden behind the closed doors of Balmoral Castle. The heartbroken public do not understand and request that the Queen comforts her people. This also puts pressure on newly elected Tony Blair, who constantly tries to convince the monarchy to address the public.

PERSEPOLIS (2007)

Also Known As : Persépolis
Director : Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Writer : Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Genre : Animation | Biography | Drama
Country : France | USA

Plot : In 1970s Iran, Marjane ‘Marji’ Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah’s defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs.