The winners of the 2023 European Film Awards were announced live from Berlin, Germany on Saturday 9th December, with Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall receiving a number of major accolades, including Best European Film.

The European Film Academy announced 11 different films from as many as 10 different countries as winners across a wide range of categories, whilst also honouring a number of individuals for their contributions to the form. English actress Vanessa Redgrave was honoured with the European Lifetime Achievement award, with Spanish film director Isabel Coixet being rewarded for European Achievement in World Cinema.

Anatomy of a Fall was the most celebrated of the stacked line-up of films, winning the award for Best European Film over fellow nominees Fallen Leaves, Green Border, Me Captain and The Zone of Interest, as well as picking up awards for European Director, European Screenwriter, European Editing, and European Actress, the latter of which was won by Sandra Hüller who was nominated twice in the category for Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.

The awards ceremony was streamed live and in full via the European Film Awards website, with replays still available.

The winners of the 2023 European Film Awards (EFAs) are as follows:

European Film – Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Green Border
Me Captain
The Zone of Interest

European Young Audience Award – Scrapper
Longing for the World
One in a Million

European Discovery – Prix Fipresci – How to Have Sex
20,000 Species of Bees
La Palisiada
Safe Place
The Quiet Migration
Vincent Must Die

European Documentary – Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Apolonia, Apolonia
Four Daughters
Motherland
On the Adamant

European Animated Feature Film – Robot Dreams
A Greyhound of a Girl
Chicken for Linda!
The Amazing Maurice
White Plastic Sky

European Short Film – Hardly Working
27
Aqueronte
Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays
Flores Del Otro Patio

European Director – Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Aki Kaurismäki (Fallen Leaves)
Agnieszka Holland (Green Border)
Matteo Garrone (Me Captain)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

European Actress – Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Eka Chavleishvili (Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry)
Alma Pöysti (Fallen Leaves)
Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)
Leonie Benesch (The Teachers’ Lounge)
Sandra Hüller (The Zone of Interest)

European Actor – Mads Mikkelsen (The Promised Land)
Thomas Schubert (Afire)
Jussi Vatanen (Fallen Leaves)
Josh O’Connor (La Chimera)
Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest)

European Screenwriter – Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (Anatomy of a Fall)
Aki Kaurismäki (Fallen Leaves)
Gabriela Lazarkiewicz-Sieczko, Maciej Pisuk Agnieszka Holland (Green Border)
Johannes Duncker, Ilker Çatak (The Teachers’ Lounge)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

European Cinematography – Rasmus Videbæk (The Promised Land)

European Editing – Laurent Sénéchal (Anatomy of a Fall)

European Production Design – Emita Frigato (La Chimera)

European Costume Design – Kicki Ilander (The Promised Land)

European Make-Up & Hair – Society of the Snow

European Original Score – Markus Binder (Club Zero)

European Sound – Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers (The Zone of Interest)

European Visual Effects – Society of the Snow

European Lifetimes Achievement – Vanessa Redgrave

European Achievement in World Cinema – Isabel Coixet

Eurimages Co-Production Award – Uljana Kim

Honorary Award of the EFA President and Board – Béla Tarr

European Sustainability Award (Prix Film4Climate) – Güler Sabancı

The winners of the 2023 British Independent Film Awards were announced live from Old Billingsgate, London on Sunday 3rd December 2023, with Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers earning the Best British Independent Film award on a successful night for the relationship drama.

In a ceremony hosted by Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Lolly Adefope, All of Us Strangers took home British Independent Film Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Music Supervision and Best Editing, with 2023 Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) being named the joint winner for Best Supporting Performance for his part in the film.

Justine Triet’s 2023 Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall was awarded the title of Best International Independent Film, earning the accolade over competing titles Fallen Leaves, Fremont, Monster and Past Lives.

Mia McKenna-Bruce won the award for Best Lead Performance for her part in How to Have Sex, with casting director Isabella Odoffin also earning an accolade for Best Casting.

The full list of 2023 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs):

Best British Independent Film – All of Us Strangers
Femme
How to Have Sex
Rye Lane
Scrapper

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger – Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Fremont
Monster
Past Lives

Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema – Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films – Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Lead Performance – Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)
Jodie Comer (The End We Start From)
Tia Nomore (Earth Mama)
Nabhaan Rizwan (In Camera)
Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers)
Tilda Swinton (The Eternal Daughter)

Best Supporting Performance – Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers)
Ritu Arya (Polite Society)
Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers)
Samuel Bottomley (How to Have Sex)
Alexandra Burke (Pretty Red Dress)
Amir El-Masry (In Camera)
Clair Foy (All of Us Strangers)
Alia Shawkat (Drift)
Shaun Thomas (How to Have Sex)
Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From)

Best Joint Lead Performance – Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay (Femme)
Lola Campbell, Harris Dickinson (Scrapper)
David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film – Savanah Leaf (Earth Mama)
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Holly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios – Theo Barrowclough (Scrapper)
Georgia Goggin (Pretty Red Dress)
Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo (Rye Lane)
Gannesh Rajah (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Chi Thai (Raging Grace)

Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix – Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)
Le’Shantey Bonsu (Girl)
Lola Campbell (Scrapper)
Priya Kansara (Polite Society)
Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)

Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 – Nida Manzoor (Polite Society)
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary – Chloe Abrahams (The Taste of Mango)
Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn (Another Baby)
Ella Glendining (Is There Anybody Out There?)
Alice Russell (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Christopher Sharp (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)

The Raindance Maverick Award – If the Streets Were on Fire
Is There Anybody Out There?
Name Me Lawand
Raging Grace
Red Herring

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission Film – If the Streets Were on Fire
Another Body
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
Lyra
Occupied City

Best British Short Film – Festival of Slaps
Christopher At Sea
Lions
Muna
The Talent

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight – Isabella Odoffin (How to Have Sex) 
Shaheen Baig (Scrapper)
Kharmel Cochrane (Rye Lane)
Kahleen Crawford (All of Us Strangers)
Salome Oggenfuss, Geraldine Barón, Abby Harri (Earth Mama)

Best Cinematography sponsored by Harbor & Kodak – Jamie D. Ramsay (All of Us Strangers)
Olan Collardy (Rye Lane)
Suzie Lavelle (The End We Start From)
Molly Manning Walker (Scrapper)
James Rhodes (Femme)

Best Costume Design – Buki Ebiesuwa (Femme)
George Buxton (How to Have Sex)
Oliver Cronk (Scrapper)
Cynthia Lawrence-John (Rye Lane)
PC Williams (The End We Start From)

Best Editing – Jonathan Alberts (All of Us Strangers) 
Victoria Boydell (Rye Lane)
Paul Carlin (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)
Avdhesh Mohla (High & Low – John Galliano)
Arttu Salmi (The End We Start From)

Best Effects – Jonathan Gales, Richard Baker (The Kitchen)
Paddy Eason (Polite Society)
Theodor Flo-Groeneboom (The End We Start From)

Best Music Supervision – Connie Farr (All of Us Strangers)
Ciara Elwis (Femme)
David Fish (Rye Lane)

Best Make-Up & Hair Design sponsored by The Wall Group – Marie Deehan (Femme)
Zoe Clare Brown (All of Us Strangers)
Claire Carter (Polite Society)
Natasha Lawes (How to Have Sex)
Bianca Simone Scott (Rye Lane)

Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group – Kwes (Rye Lane)
Adam Janota Bzowski (Femme)
Patrick Jonsson (Scrapper)
Anna Meredith (The End We Start From)
Ré Olunuga (Girl)

Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword – Nathan Parker (The Kitchen)
Laura Ellis Cricks (The End We Start From)
Sarah Finlay (All of Us Strangers)
Elena Muntoni (Scrapper)
Anna Rhodes (Rye Lane)

Best Sound supported by Halo – Mark Jenkin (Enys Men)
Scrapper
How to Have Sex
All of Us Strangers
The End We Start From

Per BIFA.

The European Film Academy has revealed its nominees for the 36th European Film Awards (EFAs), with Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall being celebrated across most categories.

Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning thriller, Anatomy of a Fall, is nominated across four categories: European Film, Directing, Lead Actress (Sandra Hüller), Screenwriting. Glazer’s The Zone of Interest has been nominated across the five leading categories: European Film, Directing, Lead Actress (Sandra Hüller), Lead Actor (Christian Friedel), Screenwriting.

British actors Josh O’Connor and Mia McKenna-Bruce were nominated in the acting categories, with the former playing the lead role in Alice Rohrwacher’s drama La Chimera and the latter being the focus of Molly Manning Walker’s acclaimed debut How to Have Sex (itself nominated for 13 British Independent Film Awards).

Aki Kaurismäki’s Finnish drama Fallen Leaves was also nominated across all five eligible categories announced.

The 2023 European Film Awards will take place live from Berlin, Germany on 9th December 2023.

Here is the full list of 2023 European Film Awards nominees:

European Film
Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Green Border
Me Captain
The Zone of Interest

European Young Audience Award
Longing for the World
One in a Million
Scrapper

European Discovery – Prix Fipresci
20,000 Species of Bees
How to Have Sex
La Palisiada
Safe Place
The Quiet Migration
Vincent Must Die

European Documentary
Apolonia, Apolonia
Four Daughters
Motherland
On the Adamant
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

European Animated Feature Film
A Greyhound of a Girl
Chicken for Linda!
Robot Dreams
The Amazing Maurice
White Plastic Sky

European Short Film
27
Aqueronte
Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays
Flores Del Otro Patio
Hardly Working

European Director
Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Aki Kaurismäki (Fallen Leaves)
Agnieszka Holland (Green Border)
Matteo Garrone (Me Captain)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

European Actress
Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Eka Chavleishvili (Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry)
Alma Pöysti (Fallen Leaves)
Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)
Leonie Benesch (The Teachers’ Lounge)
Sandra Hüller (The Zone of Interest)

European Actor
Thomas Schubert (Afire)
Jussi Vatanen (Fallen Leaves)
Josh O’Connor (La Chimera)
Mads Mikkelsen (The Promised Land)
Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest)

European Screenwriter
Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (Anatomy of a Fall)
Aki Kaurismäki (Fallen Leaves)
Gabriela Lazarkiewicz-Sieczko, Maciej Pisuk Agnieszka Holland (Green Border)
Johannes Duncker, Ilker Çatak (The Teachers’ Lounge)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

The British Independent Film Awards announced on 2nd November 2023 the nominees for their latest annual awards show, with debut features Rye Lane and Scrapper leading the list of nominated films.

Announced via an event hosted by Susan Wokoma and Morfydd Clark at One Hundred Shoreditch, London, the nominees for what BIFA consider to be the most outstanding British independent films of 2023 were revealed.

Overall, 26 British feature films were included, with Raine Allen Miller’s Rye Lane earning 16 nominations and Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper earning 14. Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, starring Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, also earned 14 nominations, with Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex earning 13 in total. Other success stories were Femme (11 nominations) and The End We Start From (9 nominations).

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall was nominated for Best International Feature Film, as was festival favourite Past Lives, while heavyweights Tilda Swinton, Andrew Scott and Jodie Comer are among those nominated in the Best Lead Performance category.

The nominees for the 2023 British Independent Film Awards are as follows:

Best British Independent Film
All of Us Strangers
Femme
How to Have Sex
Rye Lane
Scrapper

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger
Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Fremont
Monster
Past Lives

Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Lead Performance
Jodie Comer (The End We Start From)
Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)
Tia Nomore (Earth Mama)
Nabhaan Rizwan (In Camera)
Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers)
Tilda Swinton (The Eternal Daughter)

Best Supporting Performance
Ritu Arya (Polite Society)
Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers)
Samuel Bottomley (How to Have Sex)
Alexandra Burke (Pretty Red Dress)
Amir El-Masry (In Camera)
Clair Foy (All of Us Strangers)
Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers)
Alia Shawkat (Drift)
Shaun Thomas (How to Have Sex)
Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From)

Best Joint Lead Performance
Lola Campbell, Harris Dickinson (Scrapper)
David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay (Femme)

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Savanah Leaf (Earth Mama)
Holly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios
Theo Barrowclough (Scrapper)
Georgia Goggin (Pretty Red Dress)
Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo (Rye Lane)
Gannesh Rajah (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Chi Thai (Raging Grace)

Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix
Le’Shantey Bonsu (Girl)
Lola Campbell (Scrapper)
Priya Kansara (Polite Society)
Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)
Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)

Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Nida Manzoor (Polite Society)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
Chloe Abrahams (The Taste of Mango)
Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn (Another Baby)
Ella Glendining (Is There Anybody Out There?)
Alice Russell (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Christopher Sharp (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)

The Raindance Maverick Award
If the Streets Were on Fire
Is There Anybody Out There?
Name Me Lawand
Raging Grace
Red Herring

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission Film
Another Body
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
If the Streets Were on Fire
Lyra
Occupied City

Best British Short Film
Christopher At Sea
Festival of Slaps
Lions
Muna
The Talent

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight 
Shaheen Baig (Scrapper)
Kharmel Cochrane (Rye Lane)
Kahleen Crawford (All of Us Strangers)
Isabella Odoffin (How to Have Sex)
Salome Oggenfuss, Geraldine Barón, Abby Harri (Earth Mama)

Best Cinematography sponsored by Harbor & Kodak
Olan Collardy (Rye Lane)
Suzie Lavelle (The End We Start From)
Molly Manning Walker (Scrapper)
Jamie D. Ramsay (All of Us Strangers)
James Rhodes (Femme)

Best Costume Design
George Buxton (How to Have Sex)
Oliver Cronk (Scrapper)
Buki Ebiesuwa (Femme)
Cynthia Lawrence-John (Rye Lane)
PC Williams (The End We Start From)

Best Editing 
Jonathan Alberts (All of Us Strangers)
Victoria Boydell (Rye Lane)
Paul Carlin (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)
Avdhesh Mohla (High & Low – John Galliano)
Arttu Salmi (The End We Start From)

Best Effects
Paddy Eason (Polite Society)
Theodor Flo-Groeneboom (The End We Start From)
Jonathan Gales, Richard Baker (The Kitchen)

Best Music Supervision
Ciara Elwis (Femme)
Connie Farr (All of Us Strangers)
David Fish (Rye Lane)

Best Make-Up & Hair Design sponsored by The Wall Group
Zoe Clare Brown (All of Us Strangers)
Claire Carter (Polite Society)
Marie Deehan (Femme)
Natasha Lawes (How to Have Sex)
Bianca Simone Scott (Rye Lane)

Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group
Adam Janota Bzowski (Femme)
Patrick Jonsson (Scrapper)
Kwes (Rye Lane)
Anna Meredith (The End We Start From)
Ré Olunuga (Girl)

Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword
Laura Ellis Cricks (The End We Start From)
Sarah Finlay (All of Us Strangers)
Elena Muntoni (Scrapper)
Nathan Parker (The Kitchen)
Anna Rhodes (Rye Lane)

Best Sound supported by Halo
Scrapper
How to Have Sex
All of Us Strangers
Enys Men
The End We Start From

How to Have Sex (2023)
Director: Molly Manning Walker
Screenwriter: Molly Manning Walker
Starring: Mia McKenna-Bruce, Enva Lewis, Lara Peake, Daisy Jelley, Laura Ambler, Shaun Thomas, Samuel Bottomley

Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes 2023, How to Have Sex follows three 16-year-olds on a girls’ trip to Malia. Molly Manning Walker’s riveting directorial debut captures those formative teenage years, with a focus on female friendship and first sexual experiences, specifically around the subject of consent.

Best friends Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Em (Enva Lewis) and Skye (Lara Peake) fully embrace their first taste of post-GCSE freedom, in a joyous bubble of drinking and partying. While the film navigates dark territory, it is also full of great humour, perfectly depicting the emotional rollercoaster of being a teenage girl and the messy silliness of Brits abroad.

But beneath the glittery, ecstatic haze of uninhibited freedom, Walker sustains a looming sense of something sinister, and this darker area is explored later in the film.

How to Have Sex expertly captures the experience of being 16, transporting us into Tara’s position. The close-ups of her face reflect both euphoria and overwhelm, as she navigates exciting but daunting untrodden territory. Thrust into an ultra-sexualized world where men receive blowjobs onstage at nightclubs and prizes are awarded for sexual conquests, the party island is a sensory overload. These close-ups are most poignantly used during moments of sexual intimacy, conveying Tara’s emotional experience, rather than the physical act itself.

The presentation of female sexuality is a stark contrast to films like Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers; the voyeuristic gaze of his camera constantly leering over the teenage girls’ half-naked bodies. Thankfully, the male gaze is purposefully absent in Walker’s film, and in the wrong hands, such intimate scenes might have been handled far less sensitively.

Molly Manning Walker’s film highlights the pressure to have sex; whether that pressure is from society, friends, or the pressure we put on ourselves. As the more sexually experienced Skye tells Tara, “if you don’t get laid on this holiday, you never will”. The film demonstrates how losing one’s virginity can be seen as a goal to be achieved, no matter what the potential cost.

Walker discussed her intention behind the film’s theme in an interview with Miranda Sawyer for The Guardian. “For me, consent has become too black and white in terms of ‘she said yes, so it’s fine’…that doesn’t always work – it’s not enough”. The film does a great job of exploring the nuances of consent, rather than a binary presentation, particularly the subtleties of external pressures and coercion. Walker avoids blaming men alone, explaining in the same interview: “not taking away all blame or guilt, but I know that it’s not all their fault… it’s the way that society has brought them up”.

Walker’s personal experience heavily influenced the film, drawing on her own wild teenage holidays, as well as a sexual assault at the age of 16. “Some of these holidays are still the best memories of my life, but there are other complicated memories within them”, she told Woman’s Hour. The film importantly acknowledges that a traumatic event does not need to eradicate the joyful ones, nor define someone as a “victim”. Walker added that “as a British society we love to not talk about things”. She hopes to take the film to schools, in order to open up important conversations about consent.

While everyone’s first sexual encounter is different, the film manages to speak to a universal female experience that is painfully relatable. Mia McKenna-Bruce’s captivating lead performance and the film’s urgent message makes How to Have Sex a total must-see.

Score: 22/24

Written by Gala Woolley

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