The European Film Academy on Tuesday unveiled the nominees for the 2026 European Film Awards (EFA), the top pan-European honor for cinematic excellence.
In the Best European Feature category, Joachim Trier‘s Norwegian melodrama Sentimental Value, Jafar Panahi‘s Palme d’Or winning Iranian thriller It Was Just an Accident, Olivier Laxe’s post-apocalyptic road movie Sirāt, Mascha Schilinski’s multi-generational German period film Sound of Falling, and Kaouther Ben Hania’s harrowing Gaza drama The Voice of Hind Rajab are contenders for the top prize.
In the director race, Yorgos Lanthimos is nominated for the Emma Stone/Jessie Plemons starrer Bugonia, alongside Laxe for Sirāt, Panahi for It Was Just an Accident, Schilinski for Sound of Falling and Trier for Sentimental Value.
Panahi also picked up a best European Screenwriter nomination for the script to It Was Just an Accident. Laxe and Sirāt co-writer Santiago Fillol were nominated in the same category, alongside Schilinksi and co-writer Louise Peter for Sound of Falling; Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt for Sentimental Value; and Paolo Sorrentino for La Grazia.
The Best European Actress nominees include Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value), Leonie Benesch (Late Shift), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Duse), Léa Drucker (Case 137), and Vicky Krieps (Love Me Tender). European actor nominees include Sirāt star Sergi López, Mads Mikkelsen for The Last Viking, Toni Servillo for La Grazia, Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value, and Idan Weiss for Franz. Stone and Plemons, as Americas, can’t be nominated for the EFAs.
Trier’s Sentimental Value has a slight edge in the overall nominations, with 5 noms across the top 5 categories. Laxe’s Sirāt is right behind it with 4 noms, for best feature, director, actor and screenplay, followed by It Was Just an Accident and Sound of Falling, with 3 noms each.
The European Film Awards group their documentary and animated film nominees into the Best Feature category. Documentary contenders include Afternoons of Solitude, Fiume o Morte!, Riefenstahl, Songs of Slow Burning Earth and With Hasan in Gaza. The 2026 Animated feature nominees are Arco, Dog of God, Little Amelie, Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake and Tales From the Magic Garden.
In the European Discovery category, honoring up-and-coming young filmmakers, the nominees include Urška Djukić for Little Trouble Girls, Akinola Davies Jr. for My Father’s Shadow, Laura Carreira for On Falling, Murat Fıratoğlu for One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, Mathias Broe for Sauna, and Mara Tamkovich for Under the Grey Sky.
European Young Audience Award nominees include Bienvenu’s Arco, Nóra Lakos’ I Accidentally Wrote a Book, and Siblings from director Greta Scarano.
The Academy announced the nominations in front of a live audience at the iconic Real Alcázar palace at the Seville European Film Festival.
The winners of the 38th European Film Awards will be announced at a gala ceremony in Berlin on Jan. 17, 2026.
The European Film Awards have traditionally been held at the end of the year, but the Academy has moved the date to mid-January to position the EFAs as part of the international awards season, and as a harbinger for the Baftas and the Oscars. Indeed, many of this year’s EFA nominees, including Sentimental Value, Bugonia, It Was Just an Accident, Sirat, and Sound of Falling, are among the Oscar frontrunners.
Liv Ullmann, the two-time Oscar-nominated Norwegian actress and director, best known for such 1970s classics as Cries and Whispers, and Scenes From a Marriage, will receive a lifetime achievement honor at this year’s EFAs. Alice Rohrwacher, the Italian director of La Chimera, Futura, and Happy as Lazzaro will be honored with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award.
See the nominations for the 2026 European Film Awards below.
EUROPEAN FILM
Afternoons of Solitude, dir. Albert Serra
Arco, dir. Ugo Bienvenu
Dog of God, dir. Raitis Ābele and Lauris Ābele
Fiume o Morte!, dir. Igor Bezinović
It Was Just an Accident, dir. Jafar Panahi
Little Amelie, dir. Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han
Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, dir. Irene Iborra Rizo
Riefenstahl, dir. Andres Veiel
Sentimental Value, dir. Joachim Trier
Sirāt, dir. Oliver Laxe
Songs of Slow Burning Earth, dir. Olha Zhurba
Sound of Falling, dir. Mascha Schilinski
Tales From the Magic Garden, dir. David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec
The Voice of Hind Rajab, dir. Kaouther Ben Hania
With Hasan in Gaza, dir. Kamal Aljafari
EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY
Afternoons of Solitude, dir. Albert Serra
Fiume o Morte!, dir. Igor Bezinović
Riefenstahl, dir. Andres Veiel
Songs of Slow Burning Earth, dir. Olha Zhurba
With Hasan in Gaza, dir. Kamal Aljafari
EUROPEAN ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Arco, dir. Ugo Bienvenu
Dog of God, dir. Raitis Ābele and Lauris Ābele
Little Amelie, dir. Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han
Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, dir. Irene Iborra Rizo
Tales From the Magic Garden, dir. David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR
Yorgos Lanthimos for Bugonia
Oliver Laxe for Sirāt
Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident
Mascha Schilinski for Sound of Falling
Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
EUROPEAN ACTRESS
Leonie Benesch for Late Shift
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi for Duse
Léa Drucker for Case 137
Vicky Krieps for Love Me Tender
Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value
EUROPEAN ACTOR
Sergi López for Sirāt
Mads Mikkelsen for The Last Viking
Toni Servillo for La Grazia
Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value
Idan Weiss for Franz
EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER
Santiago Fillol and Oliver Laxe for Sirāt
Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident
Mascha Schilinski and Louise Peter for Sound of Falling
Paolo Sorrentino for La Grazia
Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
EUROPEAN DISCOVERY – PRIX FIPRESCI
Little Trouble Girls, dir. Urška Djukić
My Father’s Shadow, dir. Akinola Davies Jr
On Falling, dir. Laura Carreira
One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, dir. Murat Fıratoğlu
Sauna, dir. Mathias Broe
Under the Grey Sky, dir. Mara Tamkovich
EUROPEAN YOUNG AUDIENCE AWARD
Arco, dir. Ugo Bienvenu
I Accidentally Wrote a Book, dir. Nóra Lakos
Siblings, dir. Greta Scarano