Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” won Best Film at the 37th European Film Awards on 7 December 2024, claiming the most overall awards as well with five wins. 

Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” led with nominations, having received recognition in multiple categories, including European Film and European Screenwriter, as well as will multiple technical awards including European Cinematography and European Visual Effects.

Held in Lucerne, Switzerland, the European Film Awards kicked off with a celebration of the vibrant diversity present throughout the room, with host Fernando Tiberini commencing the ceremony in all the languages spoken in Switzerland and encouraging all winners to say a few words in their native tongue upon accepting.

The first winner of the night was French filmmaker Audiard, who was presented the award for European Director by “The Apprentice” star Maria Bakalova in honor of his work for “Emilia Pérez.” The film is an unconventional musical that follows the gender transition of a South American cartel leader and the subsequent fallout among the other women in his life. “Emilia Pérez” followed close behind “The Substance” in terms of number of nominations and ended up taking home European Editing and European Screenwriter for Audiard as well.

For the first time, films nominated in the European Documentary and Animated Feature Film categories were also eligible to compete in the main European Film category, which amounted to a total of 15 movies vying for the top honour. 

The Latvian animated feature “Flow,” which also received awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review, went on to win for European Animated Feature Film. A fantasy adventure, “Flow” has no spoken dialogue, but follows a black cat on a thrilling journey as they encounter fellow animal friends and the challenges faced in the wild.

Here is the full list of award winners:

European Film
Emilia Pérez - Jacques Audiard (France)

European Documentary
No Other Land - Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal (Palestine/Norway)

European Animated Feature Film
Flow - Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia/France/Belgium)

European Short Film – Prix Vimeo
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent - Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia/France/Bulgaria/Slovenia)

European Director
Jacques Audiard - Emilia Pérez

European Actress
Karla Sofía Gascón - Emilia Pérez

European Actor
Abou Sangare - Souleymane`s Story (France)

European Screenwriter
Jacques Audiard - Emilia Pérez

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI
Armand - Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Norway/Netherlands/Germany/Sweden)

European Young Audience Award
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin - Benjamin Ree (Norway)

European Cinematography
Benjamin Kračun - The Substance (UK/USA/France)

European Editing
Juliette Welfling - Emilia Pérez

European Production Design
Jagna Dobesz - The Girl With The Needle (Denmark/Poland/Sweden)

European Costume Design
Tanja Hausner - The Devil’s Bath (Austria/Germany)

European Make-Up & Hair
Evalotte Oosterop - When The Light Breaks (Iceland/Netherlands/Croatia/France)

European Original Score
Frederikke Hoffmeier - The Girl With The Needle

European Sound
Marc-Olivier Brullé, Pierre Bariaud, Charlotte Butrak, Samuel Aïchoun & Rodrigo Diaz - Souleymane’s Story (France)

European Visual Effects
Bryan Jones, Pierre Procoudine-Gorsky, Chervin Shafaghi & Guillaume Le Gouez - The Substance

European University Film Award
Three Kilometres to the End of the World - Emanuel Pârvu (Romania)

Eurimages Co-Production Award
Labina Mitevska

European Achievement in World Cinema Award
Isabella Rossellini

European Lifetime Achievement Award
Wim Wenders