Berlin festival winner 'On Body And Soul' and French AIDS drama 'Beats Per Minute' are also strong contenders for this year's EFAs.

Ruben Ostlund's The Square, a satire of the art world starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West, is the frontrunner at this year's European Film Awards (EFA) with five nominations, including best film, best comedy, best director, best screenwriter and a best acting nom for Bang.


Just behind in the nomination stakes is On Body and Soul, the dark love story from Hungarian filmmaker Ildiko Enyedi that won the Berlin Film Festival this year, which picked up four EFA nominations, including for best film. Other best film nominees include Andrey Zvyagintsev’s divorce drama Loveless and Yorgos Lanthimos' surreal family drama The Killing of a Sacred Deer, both of which nabbed three EFA noms in total. Robin Campillo’s AIDS drama BPM (Beats Per Minute) and Aki Kaurismäki's refugee melodrama The Other Side of Hope both scored two nominations.


All are being sold at AFM: The Square with Coproduction Office, BPM with Playtime, The Killing of a Sacred Deer at HanWay, On Body and Soul at Films Boutique and The Other Side of Hope with The Match Factory.


French stars Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche, nominated, respectively, for Happy End and Let the Sun Shine In, will go head-to-head in the best actress category, alongside Germany's Paula Beer (Franz), English actress Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth) and On Body And Soul star Alexandra Borbély.
Going up against Bang in the best actor contest are Colin Farrell for The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart for BPM, Jean-Louis Trintignant for Happy End and Austrian comedian Josef Hader for Stefan Zweig — Farewell to Europe.


The winners of the 30th European Film Awards will be announced at a ceremony in Berlin Dec. 9.


The nominees are:


EUROPEAN FILM

BPM (Beats Per Minute), Robin Campillo
Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev
On Body And Soul, Ildikó Enyedi
The Other Side Of Hope, Aki Kaurismäki
The Square, Ruben Östlund

EUROPEAN COMEDY

King Of The Belgians, Jessica Woodworth, Peter Brosens
The Square, Ruben Östlund
Vincent And The End Of The World, Christophe van Rompaey
Welcome To Germany, Simon Verhoeven

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR

Ildikó Enyedi for On Body And Soul
Aki Kaurismäki for The Other Side Of Hope
Yorgos Lanthimos for The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Ruben Östlund for The Square
Andrey Zvyagintsev for Loveless

EUROPEAN ACTRESS

Paula Beer for Frantz
Juliette Binoche for Let the Sun Shine In
Alexandra Borbély for On Body And Soul
Isabelle Huppert for Happy End
Florence Pugh for Lady Macbeth

EUROPEAN ACTOR

Claes Bang for The Square
Colin Farrell for The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Josef Hader for Stefan Zweig-Farewell To Europe
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart for BPM (Beats Per Minute)
Jean-Louis Trintignant for Happy End

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER

Ildikó Enyedi for On Body And Soul
Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou for The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Oleg Negin & Andrey Zvyagintsev for Loveless
Ruben Östlund for The Square
François Ozon for Frantz

EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY

Austerlitz, Sergei Loznitsa
Communion, Anna Zamecka
La Chana, Lucija Stojevic
Strangers in Paradise, Guido Hendrikx
The Good Postman, Tonislav Hristov

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY – Prix FIPRESCI

Bloody Milk, Hubert Charuel
Godless, Ralitza Petrova
Lady Macbeth, William Oldroyd
Summer 1993, Carla Simón
The Eremites, Ronny Trocker

EUROPEAN ANIMATION FEATURE FILM

Ethel & Ernest, Roger Mainwood
Louise By The Shore, Jean-François Laguionie
Loving Vincent, Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman
Zombiellénium, Arthur de Pins & Alexis Ducord