Irish-Scottish film director Mark Cousins will supervise 38th European Film Awards The ceremony of creating a “living film essay” together with the creative team, which included film composer Dasha Dauenhauer and director Robert Leniger.
Announcement from European Film Academywhich oversees the awards circuit, is trying to reposition and expand the scope of awards and events focused on European cinema as part of the wider awards season.
The 38th ceremony will take place at the House of World Culture in the city. Berlin January 17, 2026, rather than the previous traditional December slot.
date change first announced in 2023 Taking effect in 2026, the EFA ceremony will take place immediately after the Golden Globe Awards on January 11 and during the voting period for Oscar nominations.
As part of the revamp, the European Film Academy said it wanted to move away from the generic scenarios dominated by awards and acceptance speech categories and create an event dedicated to the question “why do we love cinema?”
European Film Awards It is a co-production between the European Film Academy and its own production arm, European Film Academy Productions, with Jürgen Biesinger as the show's lead producer.
“Together with Academy President Juliette Binoche and outgoing Chairman Mike Downey, we have worked over the past year to fulfill our shared desire to create a more distinctive form for celebrating European cinema,” said European Film Academy Director Matthijs Wouter Knoll.
“Film was born in Europe. And Europe is constantly shaping the source of new international talent, bold storytelling and technical innovation that influences the images we see. Having the opportunity to work now with Robert, Dasha and Mark is an important step towards creating an event that cannot be missed.”
Mark Cousins is best known for his documentaries, including the 15-hour Film Story: Odyssey (2011) and Women make movies: a new road movie through cinema (2019), which was awarded the European Film Award for Innovative Storytelling in 2020.
Most recently his film March on Rome was nominated for Best European Documentary at the 35th European Film Awards. His latest work A sudden look at deeper thingsabout the artist Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham, who received the Crystal Globe for best film in Karlovy Vary in 2024.
Cousins has co-led a number of innovative film productions with Tilda Swinton, with whom he also launched the 8 1/2 Foundation, which aims to connect children with the world of cinema.
“I love playing with the form of cinematic events, so I jumped at the opportunity to take part in the European Film Awards evening. We hope there are surprises in store. We will try to conjure up cinematic images, emotions and ideas. I am honored to work with Robert, Dasha and the Academy team in a building that I have long admired,” said Cousins.
Composer Dauenhauer, who was born in Moscow and lives in Berlin, received the European Film Award for original film music Berlin Alexanderplatz (Burkhan Qurbani, 2020) and most recently her second German Film Award for the score of a film by Jan-Ole Gerster. Islands (2025).
Her other works include scores for Evolution (Kornel Mundruczó, 2021), Golda (“Native Guy”, 2023) and Tatami (Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi, 2024).
Leniger, born in Germany, is a theater director and video artist who has worked in theaters in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. His work is characterized by the use of digital media in combination with stage productions, bridging the gap between theater and cinema.
Among his many productions, inspired by his passion for cinema, are Dreamers (2009) based on the novel by Gilbert Adair. Weekend (2010), inspired by Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 feature film of the same name, and Katzenmacher inspired by Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1969 film.
Since 2022 he has also been director of the MetFilm school in Berlin. He has also already supervised the direction of the European Film Awards in 2023.
On October 14, a shortlist of 67 films that could be nominated for the 2026 award was announced.
They will be voted on in 23 categories by the 5,400 members of the European Film Academy in the coming weeks, with the main categories announced on November 18 during the 22nd Seville European Film Festival in Spain.
