European Film Award for Best Director
{{Short description|Annual award given for cinematic achievements in directing}}
{{Infobox award
| name = European Film Award for Best Director
| awarded_for = Best Achievement in Directing
| presenter = European Film Academy
| image = Jacques Audiard Cannes 2017.jpg
| image_upright = 0.7
| caption = The 2024 recipient: Jacques Audiard
| year = Wim Wenders
Wings of Desire (1988)
| holder = Jacques Audiard
Emilia Pérez (2024)
| website = {{URL|europeanfilmacademy.org}}
}}
The European Film Award for Best Director is an award given out at the annual European Film Awards to recognize a director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in a film industry. The award is presented by the European Film Academy (EFA) and was first presented in 1988 to German director Wim Wenders for Wings of Desire.
Michael Haneke is the director with most wins in the category with three, followed by Pedro Almodóvar, Paolo Sorrentino, Paweł Pawlikowski and Ruben Östlund, with two wins each. Almodovar is the most nominated director with six nominations for the award. Danish director Susanne Bier was the first female director to receive the award, winning for In a Better World in 2011.
Winners and nominees
=1980s=
| class="wikitable" width="95%" cellpadding="5" | |||
| width="100"|Year
!width="300"|Winner and nominees !width="300"|English title !width="300"|Original title | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |1988 (1st) | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | {{Flagicon|Germany}} Wim Wenders | style="background:#B0C4DE;" |Wings of Desire | style="background:#B0C4DE;" |Der Himmel über Berlin |
| {{Flagicon|UK}} Terence Davies | colspan="2" |Distant Voices, Still Lives | ||
| {{Flagicon|Portugal}} Manoel de Oliveira | The Cannibals | Os Canibais | |
| {{Flagicon|France}} Louis Malle | colspan="2" |Au revoir, les enfants | ||
| {{Flagicon|Soviet Union}} Sergei Parajanov | Ashik Kerib | აშიკ-ქერიბი | |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |1989 (2nd) | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | {{Flagicon|Hungary}} Géza Bereményi | colspan="2" style="background:#B0C4DE;" |Eldorádó | |
| {{Flagicon|Greece}} Theodoros Angelopoulos | Landscape in the Mist | Τοπίο στην ομίχλη | |
| {{Flagicon|Poland}} Maciej Dejczer | 300 Miles to Heaven | 300 mil do nieba | |
| {{Flagicon|Soviet Union}} Vasili Pichul | Little Vera | Ма́ленькая Ве́ра (Malenkaya Vera) | |
| {{Flagicon|Ireland}} Jim Sheridan | colspan="2" |My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown |
=2000s=
=2010s=
= 2020s =
Multiple wins and nominations
= Multiple wins =
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| scope="col" width="55" | Wins
! scope="col" | Director |
|---|
| style="text-align:center" | 3
|{{Flagicon|Austria}} Michael Haneke |
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | 2
|{{Flagicon|Spain}} Pedro Almodóvar |
| {{Flagicon|Sweden}} Ruben Östlund |
| {{Flagicon|Poland}} Paweł Pawlikowski |
| {{Flagicon|Italy}} Paolo Sorrentino |
= Most nominations =
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Nominations
! Director |
|---|
| style="text-align:center" | 7
|{{Flagicon|Spain}} Pedro Almodóvar |
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | 4
|{{Flagicon|Finland}} Aki Kaurismäki |
| {{Flagicon|Italy}} Paolo Sorrentino |
| rowspan="11" style="text-align:center" | 3
|{{Flagicon|Denmark}} Susanne Bier |
| {{Flagicon|Turkey}} Nuri Bilge Ceylan |
| {{Flagicon|Italy}} Matteo Garrone |
| {{Flagicon|Austria}} Michael Haneke |
| {{Flagicon|Greece}} Yorgos Lanthimos |
| {{Flagicon|UK}} Ken Loach |
| {{Flagicon|Sweden}} Ruben Östlund |
| {{Flagicon|France}} François Ozon |
| {{Flagicon|Poland}} Paweł Pawlikowski |
| {{Flagicon|France}} / {{Flagicon|Poland}} Roman Polanski |
| {{Flagicon|Denmark}} Lars Von Trier |
| rowspan="19" style="text-align:center" | 2
|{{Flagicon|Iran}} / {{Flagicon|Denmark}} Ali Abbasi |
| {{Flagicon|Germany}} / {{Flagicon|Turkey}} Fatih Akın |
| {{Flagicon|Sweden}} Roy Andersson |
| {{Flagicon|Greece}} Theo Angelopoulos |
| {{Flagicon|United Kingdom}} Andrea Arnold |
| {{Flagicon|France}} Jacques Audiard |
| {{Flagicon|Italy}} Marco Bellocchio |
| {{Flagicon|Germany}} Andreas Dresen |
| {{Flagicon|Poland}} Agnieszka Holland |
| {{Flagicon|Israel}} Samuel Maoz |
| {{Flagicon|UK}} Steve McQueen |
| {{Flagicon|Romania}} Cristian Mungiu |
| {{Flagicon|Italy}} Giuseppe Tornatore |
| {{Flagicon|Denmark}} Thomas Vinterberg |
| {{Flagicon|Italy}} Paolo Virzì |
| {{Flagicon|Germany}} Wim Wenders |
| {{Flagicon|UK}} Michael Winterbottom |
| {{Flagicon|Russia}} Andrey Zvyagintsev |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/Archive.39.0.html European Film Academy archive]
{{European Film Awards}}
{{European Film Award for Best Director}}