Irish feature films ‘Eden’, directed by Declan Recks, and ‘Hunger’, directed by Steve McQueen, have been selected for nomination to the 2008 European Film Academy Awards.
In the 20 countries with the most EFA Members, these members have voted one national film directly into the selection list. ‘Eden’, written by Eugene O’Brien, is among 44 films named in the EFA selection, voted as Ireland’s submission for the prestigious Awards. To complete the list, a Selection Committee consisting of EFA Board Members and invited experts Gunnar Bergdahl (Sweden), Stefan Kitanov (Bulgaria), and Derek Malcolm (UK) has included further films. ‘Hunger’ has been chosen among these additional titles. ‘Hunger’ was co-written by Irish writer Enda Walsh (Disco Pigs) and filmed on location in Northern Ireland.
Other films in the running include Joe Wright’s ‘Atonement’ (UK), Radu Muntean’s ‘Boogie’ (Romania), Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘Il Divo’ (Italy) and Mike Leigh’s ‘Happy Go Lucky’ (UK).
In the coming weeks, the 1,800 members of the European Film Academy will vote for the nominations in 15 award categories including Best European Film. The nominations will then be announced on 8 November at the Sevilla European Film Festival in Spain.
The 21st European Film Awards will take place in Copenhagen on 6 December.
