European Film Academy Opens Best Film Category to Docs, Animated Features

The European Film Academy has changed its voting system to allow documentaries and animated films to qualify for the European Film Prize’s top honor, best European film.

The change, announced on Tuesday, will take immediate effect starting from the 37th European Film Awards, which we be held in Lucerne, Switzerland on December 7.

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“The aim of this change is to better reflect the fact that documentaries and animated feature films are an essential part of European cinema culture, adding much to its great diversity,” the Academy said in a statement. “Both documentary and animated films come in a plethora of genres, storytelling traditions and narrative forms, for any audience.”

Feature-length documentaries and animated films will be eligible to compete in their respective categories of European documentary and European animated feature film as well as for best European film.

“The decision of the Board of the European Film Academy reflects a long wish from members to a fairer and more equal chance for all feature-length films to compete for this recognition,” said Academy CEO Matthijs Wouter Knol. “The decision reflects a changing perception in our industry of the value of all films made. I’m proud and grateful that the European Film Academy, in a process of increasing transparency and equality for all who work in European cinema, has taken this step and embraces this change.”

Among the films that could benefit from this rule change are Mati Diop’s Berlin festival-winning documentary Dahomey; the political doc No Other Land, another Berlin festival winner, which looks at Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank; Gints Zilbalodis’ animated feature Flow, a winner at Annecy and Latvia’s official entry for the 2025 Oscars; and Sauvages, the latest claymation feature from Oscar-nominated Swiss director Claude Barras (My Life as a Zucchini).

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