THESSALONIKI, Greece, November 14, 2026 — Paweł Pawlikowski’s historical drama Fatherland has topped the European Film Awards 2027 nominations with 11 nods, narrowly ahead of Spanish film La Bola Negra, which secured 10. Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes-winning Fjord follows with five nominations.
The European Film Academy announced the nominees for its 39th awards ceremony on Saturday at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Winners will be revealed on January 16, 2027, in Athens, Greece.
Fatherland Leads European Film Awards 2027 Race
Fatherland, Pawlikowski’s first feature in eight years, follows German writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika on a journey through divided postwar Germany in 1949. Hanns Zischler and Sandra Hüller portray the central characters.
The film earned nominations for European Film, Director, Screenwriter, Actress, Actor and several technical categories, including cinematography, editing and sound.
Its closest rival, La Bola Negra, directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, follows three interconnected stories set in 1932, 1937 and 2017. The Spanish drama received recognition for directing, writing, casting and production crafts.
Meanwhile, Fjord stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a couple confronting cultural tensions in a Norwegian fjord community. Mungiu’s film won the 2026 Cannes Palme d’Or.
European Film Awards 2027: Full Best Film Nominees List
Fifteen productions are competing for European Film, including five fiction features, five documentaries and five animated films.
- Fatherland — Paweł Pawlikowski
- Fjord — Cristian Mungiu
- In Waves — Phuong Mai Nguyen
- Iron Boy — Louis Clichy
- Jim Queen — Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané
- La Bola Negra — Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi
- La Gradiva — Marine Atlan
- Letters from the Silenced Country — Andrei Kutsila
- Lucy Lost — Olivier Clert
- Naza — Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
- Rehearsals for a Revolution — Pegah Ahangarani
- To Hold a Mountain — Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić
- Viva Carmen — Sébastien Laudenbach
- Whispers in the Woods — Vincent Munier
- Woman Unknown — May el-Toukhy
The European Film Academy says the 15 nominees represent 19 European countries. Six films are directed or co-directed by women.
Sandra Hüller, Sebastian Stan and Andrew Scott Among Nominees
Sandra Hüller earned two European Actress nominations, for Fatherland and Rose. Other nominees include Penélope Cruz (Bunker), Renate Reinsve (Fjord), Léa Seydoux (Gentle Monster) and Mathilde Arcel (Woman Unknown).
The European Actor category features Sebastian Stan (Fjord), Andrew Scott (Elsinore), Javier Bardem (The Beloved), Hanns Zischler (Fatherland) and Swann Arlaud (A Man of His Time).
Director nominees include Pawlikowski, Calvo and Ambrossi, Mungiu, Sandra Wollner (Everytime) and Andrey Zvyagintsev (Minotaur).
Documentary, Animation and Technical Nominations
The European Documentary contenders are Letters from the Silenced Country, Naza, Rehearsals for a Revolution, To Hold a Mountain and Whispers in the Woods.
Animation nominees include In Waves, Iron Boy, Jim Queen, Lucy Lost and Viva Carmen.
Additional categories recognize screenwriting, casting, cinematography, original score, costume design, editing, make-up and hair, production design and sound. Fatherland and La Bola Negra feature prominently across these crafts.
The European Discovery prize recognizes emerging directors, while separate Short Film and Young Audience Award nominations have also been announced.
European Film Awards 2027 Date, Venue and How to Watch
The ceremony takes place Saturday, January 16, 2027, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens. It will be the awards’ first ceremony in southeastern Europe.
Approximately 5,700 European Film Academy members participated in the nomination process and will now vote for the winners.
The ceremony will stream through the official European Film Awards website. The complete category-by-category nominations are available in the European Film Academy’s official announcement.
European Film Awards Arrive During Oscar Season
The January ceremony falls five days before the 2027 Oscar nominations announcement on January 21, giving European productions additional international exposure during awards season.
Readers can follow the wider timeline through the 2027 Oscars awards-season calendar and explore how La Bola Negra and Fjord featured in early 2027 Oscar predictions.
However, European Film Awards nominations do not guarantee Oscar recognition. With final voting still ahead, Fatherland leads on nominations, but the winners remain undecided.
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