Cinema stars form across Europe at Europian Film Award

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).