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‘Gomorrah,’ ‘Il Divo’ and ‘Waltz With Bashir’ lead European Film Awards noms (Mike Leigh snubbed again!)

Nominations for the 21st European Film Awards were announced at the Sevilla Film Festival over the weekend. Among the half-dozen best-picture nominees are three potential foreign film Oscar contenders ? “The Class” from France, Italy’s “Gomorrah,” and “Waltz With Bashir” from Israel. Also in the running are “Il Divo” (the Italian biopic about prime minister Giulio Andreotti that won the jury prize at Cannes), Spain’s “The Orphanage” and “Happy-Go-Lucky” from the U.K.

Italy’s “Gomorrah” leads with the most noms with five, followed by four each for “Il Divo” and “Waltz With Bashir.” Those three films plus “The Class” are also nominated for best director, which usually ups a movie’s shot at winning, of course.

The helmer snub behind “Happy-Go-Lucky” is particularly curious. While its perpetually perky star Sally Hawkins got a best actress nod, Mike Leigh was snubbed in the directing and writing categories, as he was when “Vera Drake” competed here in 2004 and “Secrets and Lies” contended in 1996. The five-time Oscar nominee’s only nod here came in 2002 for “All or Nothing” ? he lost to Pedro Almodovar (”Talk to Her”). Hawkins, winner of the Berlin film fest best-actress prize, is an Oscar contender, as is nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (”I’ve Loved You So Long”). Among the leading men nominated, Michael Fassbender (”Hunger”) is a dark horse in the best actor Oscar race.

Because the eligibility dates for Europe’s equivalent of the Oscar are different, James McAvoy, snubbed again last year by the Academy Awards for “Atonement,” is in the running here with his second consecutive bid for best actor (he was nommed in 2006 for “The Last King of Scotland”). Those differing dates meant that 2006 Oscar champ Helen Mirren (”The Queen”) capped off an amazing awards run with a win here last year ? a long time after her Oscar reign.

Jeremy shockey

Last year’s best picture winner was Romania’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” which had also won the Cannes Palme d’Or. However, such success failed to translate into a foreign film Oscar nomination. The previous year’s winner, “The Lives of Others,” did go on to take that prize at the Academy Awards. Other Euro champs that have contended at the Oscars include Almodovar’s “Talk to Her” and “All About My Mother,” “Amelie,” “The Full Monty” and “Breaking the Waves.”

Now, the 1,800 members of the European Film Academy will vote on the prizes that are to be handed out in Copenhagen on December 6. Judi Dench is to receive a lifetime achievement gong then while the Danish filmmakers who founded the Dogma movement will also be feted.

For the complete list of nominees CLICK HERE

Photo: IFC Films

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