ROOM and The Land of the Enlightened receive major nominations for European Film Awards
The nominations for the European Film Awards have been released, with two IFB-funded films receiving a total of three nominations. Lenny Abrahamson's ROOM will compete for European Film 2016 with Emma Donoghue also nominated for European Screenplay 2016 for the adaptation of her own novel. Pieter-Jan De Pue's The Land of the Enlightened is nominated for European Documentary 2016.
ROOM, based on Emma Donoghue's best-selling novel is an intensely powerful and wonderfully life-affirming journey about the power of love, limitless imagination and the strength of the human spirit. Already the recipient of countless international awards, the film will now compete at the European Film Awards for the ceremony's biggest accolade. Donoghue's nomination for European Screenplay comes after a hugely successful year for the writer following an Academy Award® and Golden Globe nomination.
The Land of the Enlightened tells the story of a gang of Afghan kids from the Kuchi tribe as they dig out old Soviet mines and sell the explosives to children working in a lapis lazuli mine. Director Pieter-Jan De Pue describes the documentary as an attempt to understand how children born during wartime experience and perceive their own lives as the film portrays how they "become completely independent at a very young age."
Comprised of 22 categories, the European Film Awards recognise the greatest achievements in European cinema. Now in their 29th year, the awards are presented jointly by the European Film Academy and EFA Productions gGmbH and will take place on December 10 in Wroclaw (Poland), the European Capital of Culture 2016.
For a full list of nominees, click here.