German Federal Film Board, German State Lottery Berlin, German State Minister for Culture and the Media, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg in co-operation with Aveda, Cinema Splendid Palace, Confectionery manufacturer Laima, GLS, insurance company ERGO, Jägermeister, Lattelecom TV, M∙A∙C, Meyer Sound, Moller Baltic Import, Sixt Limousine Service, Latvian Television and ZDF/ARTE.
The venue for this year’s edition of the awards ceremony, traditionally opened by the President of the European Film Academy WIM WENDERS and EFA Chairwoman AGNIESZKA HOLLAND, is the Latvian National Opera, a stately neo-classical style building originally constructed as the Riga German Theatre in 1863.
Announcing and presenting the winners of the European Film Awards in 21 categories will be actresses ADA CONDEESCU (Romania), SYLVIA HOEKS (the Netherlands), CARLA JURI (Switzerland), RĒZIJA KALNIŅA (Latvia), ARIANE LABED (France) and TANJA RIBIČ (Slovenia), their male colleagues BARRY ATSMA (the Netherlands), ANDRZEJ CHYRA (Poland), NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU (Denmark), BRANKO ĐURIĆ (Bosnia & Herzegovina), TOBIAS MORETTI (Austria) and LUCA ZINGARETTI (Italy), RIGA2014 ambassadors GUSTAVS TERZENS and MARTA SELECKA, and the legendary actress/director LIV ULLMANN (Norway).
The ceremony will also include ‘patrons’ for the nominated films, among them actor JOHANNES KUHNKE (Sweden), actress MELISA SÖZEN (Turkey) and cinematographers MIKHAIL KRICHMAN (Russia) and ŁUKASZ ŻAL (Poland) as well as members of the special awards jury HALFDAN E (composer, Denmark), LUÍS GALVÃO TELES (director/producer, Portugal), MICHAEL O’CONNOR (costume designer, UK), ALLAN STARSKI (production designer, Poland), ASAF SUDRY (cinematographer, Israel) and PETER WARNIER (sound designer, the Netherlands).
STEVE MCQUEEN will be honoured with the European Achievement in World Cinema award, AGNÈS VARDA will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award and ED GUINEY will get the European Co-Production Award 2014 – Prix EURIMAGES. Among the guests of the ceremony will also be the CULTURAL MINISTERS JOSEF OSTERMAYER (Austria), URVE TIIDUS (Estonia), DACE MELBĀRDE (Latvia), ŠARŪNAS BIRUTIS (Lithuania), MAŁGORZATA OMILANOWSKA (Poland) and MEMLI KRASNIQI (Kosovo).
The 1,000 guests at the opera, another 500 at Cinema Splendid Palace where the show will be simultaneously transmitted, and all those at home watching live from 19.00 CET on LTV in Latvia, RTP2 in Portugal and SVT Flow in Sweden or online at www.europeanfilmawards.eu [1] will be welcomed by German TV host, author and director THOMAS HERMANNS. The founder of the famous German _Quatsch Comedy Club_ also partnered with MARIA VON HELAND for the script. Bringing a taste of Latvia to the ceremony will be the cello trio MELO-M, the most popular instrumental group in the Baltics, known for cello versions of a variety of well-known music, from classical to ethno, pop and rock. The European Film Awards are produced by EFA Director MARION DÖRING and JÜRGEN BIESINGER (executive producer).