European Film Academy
The European Film Academy is a non-profit association promoting the interests of the European film industry.
The European Film Academy honors films and filmmakers annually with the European Film Awards. The ceremony takes place in various European cities every even year and in Berlin every odd year.
History
The European Film Academy was formed by a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.The European Film Academy was founded in 1989 under the name "European Cinema Society" by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, along with forty other filmmakers from across Europe, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Claude Chabrol, Dušan Makavejev, István Szabó, and Wim Wenders. Bergman served as the first president, and Wenders was appointed chairman.
In 1990, the organization was renamed the European Film Academy and registered as a non-profit association.
In 1996, Wim Wenders succeeded Bergman as president, and Nik Powell, a British producer, was elected chairman.
Mike Downey, an Irish-British film producer, was elected chairman in 2020.
In 2021, Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland became the first woman to serve as president of the Academy. That same year, the Academy discontinued use of the abbreviation "EFA" and began referring to itself either by its full name or simply as "the Academy." A new logo was introduced in August 2021, designed by the Polish agency Huncwot, as part of a broader update to its digital and visual identity.
In May 2024, French actress Juliette Binoche was elected president, succeeding Holland.
Organization
Board
The board of the academy consists of members representing various parts of Europe. Board members are elected for a 2 year term, with a limit of 3 terms. Beginning in 2024, each of the 15 organization's board members were selected from 15 distinct geographical or linguistic regions in Europe, each comprising different countries. In addition, a board seat has been set aside for a transnational ethnic representative from either the Sámi or Roma populations in Europe.Board meetings take place 3 times a year, one of which is held in Berlin, where the academy is headquartered.
- President: Juliette Binoche
- Chair of the board: Mike Downey
- CEO and director: Matthijs Wouter Knol
- Deputy chairs: Ada Solomon, Joanna Szymańska
- Current members of the board: Bettina Brokemper, Başak Emre, Daniel Hočevar, Nina Hoss, Denis Ivanov, Giorgos Karnavas, Hanka Kastelicová, Tine Klint, Paz Lázaro Barquilla, Christophe Leparc, Leontine Petit, Marija Razgutė, Maria Nevina Satta, Jim Sheridan, Mira Staleva, Anne-Lajla Utsi.
- Honorary members of the board: Sir Ben Kingsley, István Szabó
- Former honorary members of the board: Dušan Makavejev, Jeanne Moreau
Members per country
Based on a decision of the general assembly, the number of members, limited initially to 99, has been allowed to expand. The academy invites new members once per year. As of 1 January 2025, membership has 5,383.- Germany 906
- Italy 417
- UK 348
- France 304
- Spain 275
- Switzerland 270
- Poland 236
- Netherlands 200
- Sweden 183
- Denmark 179
- Greece 157
- Austria 131
- Ukraine 125
- Belgium 104
- Finland 102
- Norway 100
- Czech Republic 99
- Romania 97
- Turkey 84
- Israel 78
- Hungary 77
- Russia 77
- Iceland 74
- Ireland 74
- Serbia 67
- Croatia 62
- Bulgaria 60
- Slovenia 59
- Lithuania 43
- Portugal 42
- Slovakia 39
- Estonia 32
- Bosnia and Herzegovina 29
- Luxembourg 29
- Kosovo 26
- Latvia 25
- Cyprus 23
- Georgia 23
- North Macedonia 18
- Azerbaijan 18
- United States 16
- Montenegro 13
- Albania 11
- Greenland 10
- Armenia 9
- Malta 7
- Belarus 6
- Moldova 5
- Palestinian Territories 5
- Kazakhstan 3
- Kyrgyzstan 1
- Australia 1
- Canada 1
- Hong Kong 1
Funding
The European Film Academy is mainly funded by the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin, the German State Minister for Culture and the Media, and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. The presentation of the European Film Awards is financed independently from the Academy. Founded in 2006 to produce the European Film Awards ceremony for television, European Film Academy Productions gGmbH is the in-house production team and is a subsidiary company of the European Film Academy e.V. The European Film Awards is supported by patrons from the international film industry.Annual academy programme
Throughout the year, the European Film Academy initiates and participates in a series of activities dealing with film politics as well as economic, artistic, and training aspects. The program includes conferences, seminars, and workshops, with a common goal is to build a bridge between creativity and the industry. Some of the academy's events have become an institution for meetups within the European film community. Some of these events are:;The Short Film Initiative: An initiative by the European Film Academy in co-operation with fifteen festivals throughout Europe. At each of these festivals, an independent jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards.
;A Sunday in the Country: A special weekend encounter between approximately 10 young European filmmakers and some established European Film Academy members. The private atmosphere of these gatherings guarantees an exchange of ideas and experience which goes far beyond the results of usual workshops.
;Conferences and Seminars: A series of conferences initiated and/or supported by the European Film Academy to discuss what European film is, how it is changing, and where it is going.
;Master Classes: These classes offer training opportunities for young talent, combining theoretical and practical training. The high-profile list of former masters includes film professionals such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Jan De Bont, Henning Carlsen, André Delvaux, Bernd Eichinger, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Jiří Menzel, Tilda Swinton, István Szabó, Marc Weigert, Mike Newell, Tsui Hark, Allan Starski and Anthony Dod Mantle.
European Film Awards
The annual European Film Awards ceremony is the most high-profile activity of the European Film Academy. The academy pursues the following aims with the awards: attracting the interest of the audience in European cinema, promoting its cultural and artistic qualities, and regaining the public's confidence in its entertainment value. To put these ideas into practice, the People's Choice Award was added as a new category in 1997. As of 2020, the People's Choice Award merged with the Lux Award of the European Parliament into the joint initiative LUX Audience Award. The nominees for the LUX Audience Award are announced during the ceremony of the European Film Awards. After this, screenings of the nominated films are organised for the public in several European cities.The members of the European Film Academy actively participate in the selection, nomination and awarding procedures for the European Film Awards.
Taking place in the second weekend of December, the European Film Awards are the first in the international awards season. Most of the nominees and winners of the European Film Awards are found in the following months among the nominees and winners of the Golden Globes or the Oscars. In the past years, European producers and distributors repeatedly stressed that a nomination for or win at the European Film Awards had a positive impact on the chances for their films to win further international awards, such as a Golden Globe or an Oscar.