EFA nods reward box office heavy-hitters

Four of Europe's biggest homegrown hits of 2000 - the UK's Chicken Run and Billy Elliot, Italy's Bread And Tulips and France's Le Gout Des Autres - have been nominated for best European Film at the European Film Awards which take place December 2 in Paris.

Also competing for the prize are France's Harry, He Is Here To Help, Sweden's Faithless and Denmark's Cannes Palme d'Or winner Dancer In The Dark.

The selection also includes an unusual number of films that have secured wide distribution across Europe. Billy Elliot and Chicken Run, both handled by UIP, will be rolled out to most European territories while Dancer and Faithless have both sold widely, although they have yet to be released in many countries outside Scandinavia.

Billy, Harry, Bread And Tulips and Le Gout Des Autres racked up the most nominations, with three apiece. Billy also scored best actor and actress nominations for newcomer Jamie Bell and Julie Walters while Bread And Tulips was nominated for best actor (Bruno Ganz) and screenwriter (Doriana Leondeff and Silvio Soldini).

Harry also received nods for best actor (Sergi Lopez) and screenwriter (Dominik Moll and Gilles Marchand). Le Gout Des Autres is up for a screenwriting award (Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri) and the European Discovery 2000-Fasbinder Award, which is awarded to upcoming talent.

Other contenders in the main categories include Iceland's Angels Of The Universe, Poland's Wojaczek, and Norway's Aberdeen - all competing for a best actor award; and Germany's The Legends Of Rita, which has been nominated for best actress (Bibiana Beglau) and screenwriter (Wolfgang Kohlhaase).

The European Film Academy (EFA), which organises the awards, claims that 2000 was a record year both for the number of films nominated and the number of videocassettes (40,000) which were shipped out to voting members.

EFA has still to announce the nominations for Best European Actor, Actress and Director (The People's Choice Awards), the Lifetime Achievement Award and the award for European Achievement in World Cinema.

Billy Elliot (UK)
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Produced by Tiger Aspect in association with WT2

Chicken Run (UK)
Directed by Peter Lord & Nick Park
Produced by Aardman, Dreamworks

Dancer In The Dark (Denmark-Sweden-France)
Directed by Lars von Trier
Produced by Zentropa Entertainments, Trust Film Svenska, Film i Väst, Liberator Productions

Harry, He Is Here To Help (France)
Directed by Dominik Moll
Produced by Diaphana Films, M6 Films

Le Gout Des Autres (France)
Directed by Agnes Jaoui
Produced by Telema, Les Films A4, France 2 Cinema

Bread And Tulips (Italy)
Directed by Silvio Soldini
Produced by Monogatari Srl, Rai Cinema, Istituto Luce

Faithless (Sweden)
Directed by Liv Ullmann
Produced by SVT, Svensk Filmindustri, AB, NRK, YLE, Classic Srl, RAI, ZDF

Jamie Bell
Billy Elliot, UK

Bruno Ganz
Bread And Tulips, Italy

Sergi Lopez
Harry, He Is Here To Help, France

Ingvar E. Sigurdsson
Angels Of The Universe, Iceland

Krzysztof Siwczyk
Wojaczek, Poland

Stellan Skarsgard
Aberdeen, Norway

Bibiana Beglau
The Legends of Rita, Germany

Bjork
Dancer In The Dark, Denmark-Sweden-France

Lena Endre
Faithless, Sweden

Sylvie Testud
La Captive, France

Julie Walters
Billy Elliot, UK

Rafael Azcona
Butterfly's Tongue, Spain

Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri
Le Gout Des Autres, France

Wolfgang Kohlhaase
The Legends Of Rita, Germany

Irakli Kvirikadze, Maria Svereva, Nana Djordjadze
27 Missing Kisses, Germany-Georgia

Doriana Leondeff, Silvio Soldini
Bread And Tulips, Italy

Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand
Harry, He Is Here To Help, France

Alexandre Burov
The Wedding, France-Russia

Eric Guichard, Jean-Paul Meurisse
Caravan, France

Agnes Godard
Beau Travail, France

Yury Klimenko
The Barracks, Russia-Germany

Edgar Moura
Jaime, Luxembourg

Vittorio Storaro
Goya In Bordeaux, Spain

101 Reykjavik (Iceland)
Directed by Baltasar Kormakur

Gangster No. 1 (UK)
Directed by Paul McGuigan

Kennedy And I (France)
Directed by Sam Karman

Le Gout Des Autres (France)
Dir: Agnes Jaoui

Northern Skirts (Austria)
Directed by Barbara Albert,

Human Resources (France)
Directed by Laurent Cantet

Some Voices (UK)
Directed by Simon Cellan-Jones

Together (Sweden)
Directed by Lukas Moodysson

Tuvalu (Germany)
Directed by Veit Helmer

Forget America (Germany)
Directed by Vanessa Jopp

Calle 54 (Spain)
Directed by Fernando Trueba

Goulag (France)
Directed by Iossif Pasternak & Helene Chatelain

Home Game (Germany)
Directed by Pepe Danquart

The Gleaners And I (France)
Directed by Agnes Varda

One Day In September (UK-Switzerland)
Directed by Kevin Macdonald

Working Women Of The World (Belgium)
Directed by Marie-France Collard

Our Stork (A Mi Golyank)
Hungary
Directed by: Livia Gyarmathy
Produced by: BGB Film

The Zone (De Zone)
Netherlands
Directed by: Ben van Lieshout
Produced by: Van Lieshout Filmprodukties

Ferment
UK
Directed by: Tim MacMillan
Produced by: Time-Slice Films

And I Will Not Leave You Until I Die (I Nie Opuszcze Cie Az Do Smierci)
Poland
Directed by: Maciej Adamek
Produced by: Polish Television, Channel 1 Documentary Dept

A Stone Left Unturned (Kovat Miehet)
Finland
Directed by: Maarit Lalli
Produced by: Sputnik Oy

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dir: Ang Lee

In the Mood For Love
Dir: Wong Kar-Wai

Yi Yi
Dir: Edward Yang

Erin Brockovich
Dir: Steven Soderbergh

Gladiator
Dir: Ridley Scott

O Brother, Where Art Thou'
Dir: Joel Coen