theartsdesk in the Ruhr: The European Film Awards

The EU impersonates the Oscars - in Germany's industrial heartland

by Nick HastedSunday, 13 December 2009

Ken Loach accepts the EFA's Lifetime Achievement Award from one of his own charactersAll pictures courtesy of EFA/Action Press/Guido Ohlenbostel

The 22nd European Film Awards closed last night with Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon winning Best Director, Screenwriter and Film. Tahar Rahim was Best Actor for his breakthrough performance as a French-Algerian initiate into a prison’s brutal underworld in Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet, while the absent Kate Winslet won Best Actress for The Reader. Eric Cantona provided the night’s real star-power as he presented a visibly overcome Ken Loach with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

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