The directors of Hunger, Snijeg, Tatil Kitabit and Tulpan have been nominated for a European Film award. The European Discovery award is given to a young, upcoming director for a first full-length feature film.

Steve McQueen has been nominated for Hunger, which covers the events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. Written by Enda Walsh and McQueen, it won the Camera d'Or Prize in Cannes.

Snijeg (Snow) is directed by Aida Begic and written by Begic and Elma Tataragic. It follows survivors in a war-torn Bosnian village and received the Grand Prix at Cannes' Semaine de la Critique. It was the opening film of this year's Sarajevo Film Festival.

Written and directed by Seyfi Teoman, Tatil Kitabi (Summer Book) tells the story of a family, as each member struggles with a crisis. The film was presented in the Berlinale Forum section and received the award Best Turkish Film of the Year at the Istanbul International Film Festival.

Tulpan 's director Sergey Dvortsevoy presents the story of a young boy as he travels back to the Kazakh steppe after completing his naval service. The film, written by Sergey Dvortsevoy and Gennady Ostrovskiy, received the Un Certain Regard Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

The nominations were selected by a committee of film journalists and European Film Academy board members. Members of the European Film Academy will vote for the winner who will be announced at the 21st European Film Awards on 6 December in Copenhagen.