The European Film Academy (EFA) unites more than 2,300 European film professionals to promote European film makers and their award ceremony was held Saturday night in Berlin.  Danish director Lars von Trier’s Melancholia was the big winner ( I guess his little faux pas at Cannes didn’t hurt the movie ) and The King’s Speech and We Need To Talk About Kevin did well too. Who didn’t do well? Italy, unfortunately.

Here were the nominations – not many from Italy:

EUROPEAN FILM 2011
THE ARTIST, France
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Michel Hazanavicius
PRODUCED BY: Thomas Langmann & Emmanuel Montamat

LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike), Belgium/France/Italy
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
PRODUCED BY: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Denis Freyd & Andrea Occhipinti

HÆVNEN (In a Better World), Denmark
DIRECTED BY: Susanne Bier
WRITTEN BY: Anders Thomas Jensen
PRODUCED BY: Sisse Graum Jørgensen

THE KING’S SPEECH, UK
DIRECTED BY: Tom Hooper
WRITTEN BY: David Seidler
PRODUCED BY: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

LE HAVRE, Finland/France/Germany
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Aki Kaurismäki
PRODUCED BY: Aki Kaurismäki, Fabienne Vonier & Reinhard Brundig

MELANCHOLIA, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lars von Trier
PRODUCED BY: Meta Louise Foldager & Louise Vesth

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2011
Susanne Bier for HÆVNEN (In a Better World)
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike)
Aki Kaurismäki for LE HAVRE
Béla Tarr for A TORINOI LO (The Turin Horse)
Lars von Trier for MELANCHOLIA

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2011:
Kirsten Dunst in MELANCHOLIA
Cécile de France in LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike)
Charlotte Gainsbourg in MELANCHOLIA
Nadezhda Markina in ELENA
Tilda Swinton in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2011:
Jean Dujardin in THE ARTIST
Colin Firth in THE KING’S SPEECH
Mikael Persbrandt in HÆVNEN (In a Better World)
Michel Piccoli in HABEMUS PAPAM
André Wilms in LE HAVRE

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2011:
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike)
Anders Thomas Jensen for HÆVNEN (In a Better World)
Aki Kaurismäki for LE HAVRE
Lars von Trier for MELANCHOLIA

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2011:
Manuel Alberto Claro for MELANCHOLIA
Fred Kelemen for A TORINOI LO (The Turin Horse)
Guillaume Schiffman for THE ARTIST
Adam Sikora for ESSENTIAL KILLING

EUROPEAN EDITOR 2011:
Tariq Anwar for THE KING’S SPEECH
Mathilde Bonnefoy for DREI (Three)
Molly Malene Stensgaard for MELANCHOLIA

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2011:
Paola Bizzarri for HABEMUS PAPAM
Antxón Gómez for LA PIEL QUE HABITO (The Skin I Live in)
Jette Lehmann for MELANCHOLIA

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2011:
Ludovic Bource for THE ARTIST
Alexandre Desplat for THE KING’S SPEECH
Alberto Iglesias for LA PIEL QUE HABITO (The Skin I Live in)
Mihály Vig for A TORINOI LO (The Turin Horse)

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011 – Prix FIPRESCI:
ADEM (Oxygen), Belgium/the Netherlands
written & directed by Hans Van Nuffel

ATMEN (Breathing), Austria
written & directed by Karl Markovics

MICHAEL, Austria
written & directed by Markus Schleinzer

SMUKKE MENNESKER (Nothing’s All Bad), Denmark
written & directed by Mikkel Munch-Fals

TILVA ROŠ, Serbia
written & directed by Nikola Ležaić

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2011 – Prix ARTE:
PINA, Germany
written & directed by Wim Wenders
produced by Gian-Piero Ringel & Wim Wenders

STAND VAN DE STERREN (Position Among the Stars), the Netherlands
directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich
written by Leonard Retel Helmrich & Hetty Naaijkens
produced by Hetty Naaijkens

¡VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS!, Germany / the Netherlands / Argentina / Chile
written & directed by Victor Kossakovsky
produced by Heino Deckert

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2011:
LE CHAT DU RABBIN (The Rabbi’s Cat), France
directed by Antoine Delesvaux & Joann Sfar

CHICO & RITA, Spain/Isle of Man
directed by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba

UNE VIE DE CHAT (A Cat in Paris), France/Belgium
directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli & Alain Gagnol

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2011:
EFA Short Film Nominee Ghent:
BERIK by Daniel Joseph Borgman
EFA Short Film Nominee Valladolid.
SMÅ BARN, STORA ORD (Little Children, Big Words) by Lisa James-Larsson
EFA Short Film Nominee Cork:
HÄNDELSE VID BANK (Incident by a Bank) by Ruben Östlund
EFA Short Film Nominee Bristol:
DERBY by Paul Negoescu
EFA Short Film Nominee Angers:
JESSI by Mariejosephin Schneider
EFA Short Film Nominee Rotterdam:
I LUPI (The Wolves) by Alberto de Michele
EFA Short Film Nominee Berlin:
ÅTERFÖDELSEN (The Unliving) by Hugo Lilja
EFA Short Film Nominee Tampere:
APELE TAC (Silent River) by Anca Miruna Lăzărescu
EFA Short Film Nominee Cracow:
PAPARAZZI by Piotr Bernas
EFA Short Film Nominee Grimstad:
LA GRAN CARRERA (The Great Race) by Kote Camacho
EFA Short Film Nominee Vila do Conde:
DIMANCHES by Valéry Rosier
EFA Short Film Nominee Sarajevo:
TSE (Out) by Roee Rosen
EFA Short Film Nominee Locarno:
OPOWIESCI Z CHLODNI (Frozen Stories) by Grzegorz Jaroszuk
EFA Short Film Nominee Venice:
HYPERCRISIS by Josef Dabernig
EFA Short Film Nominee Drama:
THE WHOLLY FAMILY by Terry Gilliam

And the winners:

EUROPEAN FILM 2011:
MELANCHOLIA, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lars von Trier
PRODUCED BY: Meta Louise Foldager & Louise Vesth

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2011:
Susanne Bier for HÆVNEN (In a Better World)

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2011:
Tilda Swinton in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
EUROPEAN ACTOR 2011:
Colin Firth in THE KING’S SPEECH

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2011:
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike)

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2011:
Manuel Alberto Claro for MELANCHOLIA

EUROPEAN EDITOR 2011:
Tariq Anwar for THE KING’S SPEECH

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2011:
Jette Lehmann for MELANCHOLIA

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2011:
Ludovic Bource for THE ARTIST

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011:
ADEM (Oxygen) by Hans Van Nuffel, Belgium/theNetherlands

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2011 – Prix ARTE:
PINA by Wim Wenders, Germany

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2011:
CHICO & RITA by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2011:
THE WHOLLY FAMILY by Terry Gilliam, Italy

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD 2011 – Prix EURIMAGES:
Mariela Besuievsky, Spain

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2011:
Mads Mikkelsen, Denmark

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:
Stephen Frears, UK

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SPECIAL HONORARY AWARD:
Michel Piccoli, France

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2011:
THE KING’S SPEECH by Tom Hooper, UK

So even though Italy got credited, Terry Gilliam is really a British guy (Monty Python) transplanted from the US and his short film, Wholly family, about  Naples and Italian food traditions doesn’t seem to count – to me anyway, even with it’s all Italian cast.

There’s always next year…