Women directors are often shut out of awards conversations, nevermind nominations, but in a refreshing change of pace, female-directed films dominate the nominees for the European Film Awards’ debut film of the year. Three of the five films nominated for this year’s European Discovery prize are directed by women: Jules Herrmann’s “Liebmann,” Elite Zexer’s “Sand Storm,” and Svetla Tsotsorkova’s “Thirst.”
Herrmann’s “Liebmann” premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. The German drama features some improvisation, and centers on a teacher from Germany visiting a rural area in France. While he can’t speak much French, he’s determined to make his extended stay work, as he is looking for a reprieve from his life at home.
Zexer’s “Sand Storm” made its World Premiere at Sundance. The drama is set in a Bedouin village in the Israeli dessert. “Sand Storm” follows an 18-year-old girl whose forbidden love affair is discovered by her mother. The romance — and what the teen is willing to do to protect it — has life-changing consequences for everyone involved. “The biggest challenge I faced was making a film about a culture that is not my own,” Zexer told Women and Hollywood. “The traditions, beliefs, customs, language — all were very different from mine. While understanding that this is something I could never bypass or ignore, and by this I mean that this film will always be from an outsider, I still wanted to give it my best shot and have it feel as if it were an internal voice.” Consequently, Zexer spent years getting to know girls and women “who went through the experiences portrayed in [the] film.”
Tsotsorkova’s “Thirst” also had its World Premiere at Sundance. The drama centers on two dissimilar teens drawn together in rural Bulgaria.
Screen Daily reports that the nominations were selected by seven European Film Awards (EFA) board members including FIPRESCI representatives Isabelle Danel (France), Krzysztof Kwiatkowski (Poland), and Neil Young (UK).
The debut film of the year will be voted for by more than 3,000 EFA members. The winner will be announced at the EFA ceremony, set to take place in Wroclaw, Poland on December 10.
