Best European Film of the Year by European Film Awards
"The European Film Awards are presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in over ten categories of which the most important is the Film of the year. They are restricted to European cinema and European producers, directors, and actors."
All winners of the 'Best European Film of the Year' from 1988 through 2021.
Last Updated: May 3rd, 2022
Weight: 25
Detractions
- Limited to ~50 years or less (-50)
- Yearly award (-25)
Films (34)
1. Another Round
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg | Rated Not Rated | 117 min | 2020
Four friends, all high school teachers, test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in their blood.
2. Quo Vadis, Aida?
Directed by Jasmila Zbanic | Rated Approved | 101 min | 2020
Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp.
3. Cold War
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski | Rated N/A | 88 min | 2018
A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold ...
4. The Favourite
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos | Rated R | 119 min | 2018
In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah, governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah.
5. The Square
Directed by Ruben Östlund | Rated R | 151 min | 2017
A prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator finds himself in times of both professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit.
6. Toni Erdmann
Directed by Maren Ade | Rated R | 162 min | 2016
A practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.
7. Youth
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino | Rated R | 124 min | 2015
A retired orchestra conductor is on holiday with his daughter and his film director best friend in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday.
8. The Great Beauty
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino | 141 min | 2013
Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
9. Ida
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski | Rated PG-13 | 82 min | 2013
Anna, a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland, is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.
10. Amour
Directed by Michael Haneke | Rated PG-13 | 127 min | 2012
Georges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.
11. Melancholia
Directed by Lars von Trier | Rated R | 130 min | 2011
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
12. The Ghost Writer
Directed by Roman Polanski | Rated PG-13 | 128 min | 2010
A ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.
13. The White Ribbon
Directed by Michael Haneke | Rated R | 144 min | 2009
Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
14. Gomorrah
Directed by Matteo Garrone | 137 min | 2008
An inside look at Italy's modern crime families.
15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Directed by Cristian Mungiu | 113 min | 2007
A woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania.
16. The Lives of Others
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Rated R | 137 min | 2006
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
17. Hidden (Caché)
Directed by Michael Haneke | Rated R | 117 min | 2005
A married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.
18. Head-On
Directed by Fatih Akin | Rated R | 121 min | 2004
In 'Gegen die Wand' Cahit, a 40-something male from Mersin in Turkey has removed everything Turkish from his life. He has become an alcoholic drug addict and at the start of the movie wants...
19. Good Bye Lenin!
Directed by Wolfgang Becker | Rated R | 121 min | 2003
In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
20. Talk to Her
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar | Rated R | 112 min | 2002
Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.
21. Amélie
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Rated R | 122 min | 2001
Amélie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.
22. Dancer in the Dark
Directed by Lars von Trier | Rated R | 140 min | 2000
An east European girl goes to America with her young son, expecting it to be like a Hollywood film.
23. All About My Mother
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar | Rated R | 101 min | 1999
Young Esteban wants to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by his mother Manuela.
24. The Full Monty
Directed by Peter Cattaneo | Rated R | 91 min | 1997
Six unemployed steel workers form a male striptease act. The women cheer them on to go for "the full monty" - total nudity.
25. Life Is Beautiful
Directed by Roberto Benigni | Rated PG-13 | 116 min | 1997
When an open-minded Jewish librarian and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
26. Breaking the Waves
Directed by Lars von Trier | Rated R | 159 min | 1996
Oilman Jan is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when Jan urges her to have sex with another.
27. Land and Freedom
Directed by Ken Loach | 109 min | 1995
Spring 1936, a young unemployed communist, David, leaves his hometown Liverpool to join the fight against fascism in Spain. He joins an international group of Militia-men and women, the ...
28. Lamerica
Directed by Gianni Amelio | Rated N/A | 116 min | 1994
Two Italian racketeers come to Albania just after the fall of the communists to set up a fictive firm and pocket the grants. They need a stooge. They choose an old one in a jail : Spiro. ...
29. The Stolen Children
Directed by Gianni Amelio | Rated N/A | 114 min | 1992
Antonio, a policeman (carabiniere), has an order to take two children (Rosetta and her brother Luciano) from Milan to Sicily to an orphanage. Their mother has been arrested for forcing ...
31. Close to Eden
Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov | Rated PG | 119 min | 1991
The shepherd Gombo lives with his wife, three children and grandmother in a tent on the Mongolian steppe. They are pleased with their rustic conditions, until a Russian truck driver, ...
32. Open Doors
Directed by Gianni Amelio | Rated R | 108 min | 1990
Tommaso Scalia is a man who commits three murders: he killed his superior who sacked him, he kills the man who replaced him, and he kills his own wife. He wants a quick trial and an early ...
33. A Short Film About Killing
Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski | 84 min | 1988
The plot couldn't be simpler or its attack on capital punishment (and the act of killing in general) more direct - a senseless, violent, almost botched murder is followed by a cold, ...
34. Landscape in the Mist
Directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos | Rated N/A | 127 min | 1988
Road movie about two children (Voula and Alexandre) searching for their father who is supposed to live in Germany. Their obsession for this father figure will take them to the boundaries ...