- Title: GERMANY: EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY PRESENTS FELIX AWARDS
- Date: 8th December 1996
- Summary: CAST OF FILM WALK ON STAGE TO ACCEPT AWARD (INCLUDING EMILY WATSON) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (CO-PRODUCER ?) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) SAYING IT'S GREAT TO WIN. IT'S A PLEASURE TO BE HERE. THE MOVIE DARES SOMETHING
- Embargoed: 23rd December 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVAECFAPHLZ4E975UCD6RGY83BYD
- Story Text: The Berlin-based European Film Academy honoured Dane Lars Von Trier's chilling drama "Breaking the Waves" with its European Film and Actress of the Year awards in a start-studded ceremony in Berlin on Sunday (December 8).
In the film, award recipient Emily Watson plays a newly wed Scottish woman whose husband is partly paralysed in an accident on an oil rig.
He asks her to sleep with other men and recount her experiences to him, in order to continue their sexual life.
"I am a complete newcomer and had never made a film before," the British actress told Reuters after accepting the "Felix", as the academy calls its award. "Getting this award is beyond my wildest dreams." Appearances by American star Johnny Depp and Oscar-winning British actor Ben Kingsley ensured media attention and a touch of glamour for the traditionally understated afternoon ceremony which was held in a large blue circus tent.
Amid a welter of European film awards, members of the European Film Academy are aiming to carve a niche for the "Felix", now in its ninth year.
"We hope that in time the European Film Award will come to mean something far beyond the walls of this our temporary tent," Jury member Kingsley said at the ceremony.
"I believe this year's nominations will take us forward by leaps and bounds," he added.
Depp picked up the Screen International Five Continents Award for Jim Jarmush's 1995 independent American film "Dead Man", an atmospheric black-and-white picture set in the American Wild West and starring Depp.
Briton Sir Ian McKellen won Actor of the Year award for his appearance in an adaptation of the Shakespeare drama "Richard III" based in England on the brink of World War Two.
The Berlin-based Academy also honoured British actor Sir Alec Guinness, 82, with its lifetime achievement award. Kingsley accepted the prize on his behalf. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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