Several of this year’s awards season’s hottest contenders, including Yorgos Lanthimos Bugoniawith Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons; Joachim Trier Sentimental valuee with Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard and Elle Fanning; and the international feature films in competition It was just an accident And Hind Rajab’s voicehave been selected for the European Film Awards 2026.
The European Film Academy on Tuesday revealed its (quite long) list of candidates for the 2026 awards, listing the feature films, documentaries and animated films qualified for next year’s event, which will be held in Berlin on January 17.
In addition to Jafar Panahi’s Cannes Palme d’Or It was just an accident (and the Cannes prize winners Sentimental value, Falling sound, Syrup And Back seat), the shortlist includes several of this year’s festival favorites, including Berlin-based Dag winner Johan Haugerud Dreamsthe opening of the Venice Film Festival by Paolo Sorrentino Graceand laureate of the Zurich Festival by Tereza Nvotová Father. Many European international Oscar candidates are in the running for the EFA, including Norway (Sentimental value), France (It was just an accident), Germany (Falling sound), Swiss (Late post), and Belgium (Young mothers).
The European Film Academy has moved its awards ceremony to early January, ahead of the BAFTAs and Oscars, to play a more prominent role in the awards debate and ensure the EFAs are the premier event to recognize the best European cinema of the past year.
See the full list of EFA candidates below.
LONG MOVIES
Bear Cave (Arkoudotrypa) Directed by Krysesanna B. Papal & Stergios Dinopoulos (Greece, United Kingdom)
Bugonia directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (UK, USA, South Korea)
Box 137 (Folder 137) directed by Dominik Moll (France)
Christie directed by Brendan Canty (Ireland, United Kingdom)
Deaf (Sorda) directed by Eva Libertad (Spain)
Die my love directed by Lynne Ramsay (UK, USA, Canada)
Dreams (dreamer) Directed by Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)
door directed by Pietro Marcello (Italy, France)
Father (Otec) DIRECTED by Tereza Nvotová (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland)
Franz directed by Agnieszka Holland (Czech Republic, Germany, Poland)
Out directed by Mario Martone (Italy, France)
I only rest in the storm (O Riso ea Faca) directed by Pedro Pinho (Portugal, France, Brazil, Romania)
It was just an accident (Just an accident) directed by Jafar Panahi (France, Iran, Luxembourg)
Grace directed by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
Quarter-final (Heldin) directed by Petra Volpe (Switzerland, Germany)
Little Trouble Girls (what’s your girlfriend) DIRECTED by Urška Djukić (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia)
Love me tenderly directed by Anna Cazenave Cambet (France)
Kind (Elskling) Directed by Lilja Ingolfsdottir (Norway)
Maspalomas Directed by Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi (Spain)
Baby teeth (milk teeth) directed by Mihai Mincan (Romania, France, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria)
Mirrors n°3 (Mirrors n°3) directed by Christian Petzold (Germany)
Mother directed by Teona Strugar Mitevska (North Macedonia, Belgium)
While falling directed by Laura Carreira (UK, Portugal)
Once upon a time in Gaza directed by Tarzan Nasser & Arab Nasser (France, Palestine, Germany, Portugal, Qatar, Jordan)
One of those days when Hemme dies directed by Murat Fıratoğlu (Türkiye, Germany)
Palestine 36 directed by Annemarie Jacir (Palestine, United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Norway)
Back seat directed by Harry Lighton (UK)
Romeria (pilgrimage) directed by Carla Simón (Spain, Germany)
Sentimental value (affection value) directed by Joachim Trier (Norway, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden)
Silent friend Directed by Ildikó Enyedi (Germany, France, Hungary)
Sirat (Sirat) directed by Oliver Laxe (Spain, France)
Sleepless city directed by Guillermo Galoe (Spain, France)
Sound of falling (Looking at the sun) directed by Mascha Schilinski (Germany)
Sundays directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Spain)
The Last Viking (The Last Viking) directed by Anders Thomas Jensen (Denmark, Sweden)
The Little Sister directed by Hafsia Herzi (France, Germany)
The love that remains (the love that remains) Directed by Hlynur Pálmason (Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, France)
The North directed by Bart Schrijver (Netherlands)
The Stranger directed by François Ozon (France)
Hind Rajab’s voice directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (France, Tunisia)
Two prosecutors directed by Sergei Loznitsa (France, Germany, Netherlands, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania)
What Marielle Knows (was Marielle Weiss) directed by Frédéric Hambalek (Germany)
Yes (Ken) directed by Nadav Lapid (France, Israel, Cyprus, Germany)
Young Mothers directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne (Belgium, France)
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Lonely afternoon directed by Albert Serra (Spain, France)
An American Pastoral directed by Auberi Edler (France)
Ancestral visions of the future Directed by Jeremiah Mosese (France, Lesotho, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
Fiume or death! directed by Igor Bezinović (Croatia, Slovenia, Italy)
North America directed by Monica Strømdahl (Norway, Netherlands, United States)
Good stories from the valley directed by José Luis Guerin (Spain, France)
Hair, Paper, Water… (Hair, paper and water…) directed by Nicolas Graux & Minh Quy Truong (Belgium, France, Vietnam)
Listen to the voices (Listen to the voice) directed by Maxime Jean-Baptiste (Belgium, France)
Memory directed by Vladlena Sandu (France, Netherlands)
Militantropos directed by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi (Ukraine, Austria, France)
Difen Steel directed by Andres Veiel (Germany)
Songs of the Slowly Burning Earth (Pisni Zemli Shscho Povolno Horyt) directed by Olha Zhurba (Ukraine, France, Denmark, Sweden)
Shards (Oskolky) directed by Masha Chernaya (Georgia, Germany)
Twst / Things we said today Directed by Andrei Ujică (France, Romania)
With Hasan in Gaza directed by Kamal Aljafari (Germany)
LONG ANIMATED FILMS
Bow directed by Ugo Bienvenu (France)
Balente Directed by Giovanni Columbu (Italy, Germany)
Checkered Ninja 3 (Ternet Ninja 3) Directed by Anders Matthesen & Thorbjørn Christoffersen (Denmark)
The Dandelion Odyssey (Planets) directed by Momoko Seto (France)
Dog of God (Dieva Suns) directed by Raitis Abele & Lauris Abele (Latvia, United States)
Little Amelie (Amélie and the metaphysics of tubes) directed by Maïlys Vallade & Liane-Cho Han (France)
Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake. directed by Irene Iborra Rizo (Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Chile)
Tales from the Magic Garden DIRECTED BY DAVID SUP, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar & Jean-Claude Rozec (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, France)
