Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value triumphed at this year’s European Film Awards, winning six prizes including best European film. It was followed closely by Oliver Laxe’s Sirat, which took home five awards.
Sentimental Value won in many of the key categories. As well as best film, it took home the best director prize for Trier, actress for Renate Reinsve, actor for Stellan Skarsgård, screenwriter for Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier, and score for Hania Rani. The Cannes Grand Prix winner follows two sisters who reunite with their estranged father, a once-renowned director.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Speaking to many of the Sentimental Value cast and crew who took to the stage when it won the best film prize, Trier said: “Even though we made a film about a dysfunctional family, this group and gang behind me has made me feel the opposite.”
Oliver Laxe’s Sirat dominated in the craft categories, taking the cinematographer prize for Mauro Herce, editor for Cristóbal Fernández, production designer for Laia Ateca, sound designer for Laia Casanovas, and casting for Nadia Acimi, Luís Bértolo & María Rodrigo. The film, which jointly won the Cannes jury prize, follows a father and son at a rave in the mountains of southern Morocco, looking for their daughter/sister.
Fiume O Morte! by Igor Bezinović won the best documentary prize. The winner of the Rotterdam’s Tiger Award, the documentary re-enacts the 1919 occupation of Fiume by Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio.
Ugo Bienvenu’s Annecy award-winning Arco won the best animation prize. A 2D computer animation set in 2075, Arco follows a 10-year-old girl who witnesses a mysterious boy in a rainbow suit fall from the sky who from an idyllic far future where time travel is possible.
There were also prizes for The Sound Of Falling, which took home costume designer award for Sabrina Krämer, and Bugonia, winner of make-up and hair for Torsten Witte.
Politics and culture
As usual for the European Film Awards, the night - which took place in Berlin’s House of World Cultures - was both political and cultural in nature.
It was interspersed with montages from European film history by filmmaker Mark Cousins and music by film composer Dascha Dauenhauer. Many of the presenters and winners addressed issues such as the protests in Iran and the war in Ukraine.
Jafar Panahi, the director of Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident, was invited to the stage right at the beginning of the ceremony, and spoke of the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on protests in the country that have seen thousands killed.
He called on filmmakers and artists to speak up: “It has been 10 days since all communication was cut off, and still the true scale of the crime has not been revealed…If the world does not respond to this blatant violence today, not only Iran but the entire world is at risk. Violence when left unanswered becomes normalised. It spreads and become contagious…then no one is safe anywhere in the world. Not in Iran, not in Europe, not in America, not anywhere on this planet.
Panahi added: “Our task as filmmakers and artists is harder than ever. If we are disappointed with politicians, we must at least refuse to remain silent, because silence in a time of crime is not neutrality. Silence is a participation in darkness.”
Meanwhile, Norwegian actress, director and screenwriter Liv Ullmann, who received a lifetime achievement award, expressed her astonishment that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s had recently presented her Nobel peace prize medal to US president Donald Trump. “It is so strange,” she said, adding that the Norwegian government can take a Nobel prize away from those who misuse it. “Somebody in power in the United States may be disappointed. He will lose it… I am happy.”
Igor Bezinović, the director of the best documentary winner, Fiume O Morte! flagged recent protests by students in Germany against moves to introduce voluntary military service – and he hoped they would inspire students elsewhere in Europe to proetest against conscription.
Trier, meanwhile, spoke about the importance of cinema, saying we should all ensure that ’the other’ is not our enemy. “Art can help us, at best, create empathy in the darkness. Together with strangers, we can laugh and cry in the cinema. This is a plea to keep cinema alive, because it is a place where many of us grow up and learn about being human.”
In total, 88 nominees were in the running across 22 categories. Among other special awards, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher was honoured with the European achievement in world cinema award, while German producers Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski from Komplizen Film were honoured with the Eurimages Co-Production Award.
It is the first time the EFAs have taken place in January, moving from their traditional early December dates right into the middle of the awards season corridor, just after the Golden Globes and before the Baftas and Oscars.
European Film Award winners 2026
European Film
Sentimental Value (Nor-Fr-Den-Ger-Swe), dir. Joachim Trier, prod. Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Juliette Schrameck, Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz, Fionnuala Jamison, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Lizette Jonjic, Janine Jackowski, Jonas Dornbach, Maren Ade, Atilla Salih Yücer & Lars Thomas Skare
European Documentary
Fiume O Morte! (Cro-Slov-It), dir. Igor Bezinović
European Animated Feature Film
Arco (Fr), dir. Ugo Bienvenu
European Director
Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
European Actress
Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value
European Actor
Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value
European Screenwriter
Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
European Discovery – Prix Fipresci
On Falling (UK-Port), dir. Laura Carreira
European Young Audience Award
Siblings (It), dir. Greta Scarano
European Casting Director
Nadia Acimi, Luís Bértolo & María Rodrigo for Sirāt
European Cinematographer
Mauro Herce for Sirāt
European Composer (Original Score)
Hania Rani for Sentimental Value
European Costume Designer
Sabrina Krämer for Sound Of Falling
European Editor
Cristóbal Fernández for Sirāt
European Make-up & Hair Artist
Torsten Witte for Bugonia
European Production Designer
Laia Ateca for Sirāt
European Sound Designer
Laia Casanovas for Sirāt
European Short Film – Prix Vimeo
City Of Poets (Neth), dir. Sara Rajaei
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