European Film Academy, the organisation founded in 1988 and dedicated to promoting European cinema, has announced a significant new development: starting this year, documentaries and animated films will be included among the categories considered for the European Film Awards. This change reflects the recognition of the fundamental role these works play in European film culture.

The innovation will come into effect as early as the 37th European Film Awards, which will take place on 7 December in Lucerne, Switzerland. In August, the Academy presented the first official selection of films eligible for the award, underlining the new openness of the competition.
The European Film Academy revealed the additional titles that join the 29 announced in August. In addition to the titles already selected in the first round, Paola Cortellesi’s C’è ancora domani and two other majority Italian co-productions, presented at the Venice Film Festival, have been added: Vermiglio by Maura Delpero and Queer by Luca Guadagnino.

The CEO of the European Film Academy, Matthijs Wouter Knol, said that from now on, the award for the best European film can be given not only to fictional works, as was the case in the past, but also to feature-length documentaries and animated films.
Knol also expressed his gratitude to the European Film Academy for undertaking this change towards greater transparency and equality, ensuring that different forms of European cinema receive due recognition.

photo credits: PxHere