EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY AWARD OF THE CRITICS (PRIX FIPRESCI)
The European Film Academy today announced the first two winners of this year's European Film Awards: The European Film Academy Critics Award 2003 - Prix Fipresci goes to the Italian film BUONGIORNO, NOTTE (Goodmorning, Night) by Marco Bellocchio. The critics' award is presented in co-operation with the international federation of film critics, Fipresci. In his statement, Fipresci president Michel Ciment said, "by awarding this prize to Marco Bellocchio's »Buongiorno, notte«, FIPRESCI wants to single out not only a masterwork, one of the best of its author, but also an outstanding filmography which goes back to 1965 and comprises more than twenty films."

In co-operation with the European cultural channel Arte, the European Film Academy annually honours an outstanding achievement in documentary filmmaking. The jury - filmmakers Alfredo Knuchel (Switzerland), Ben Lewis (UK) und Michael Muschner (Germany) - opted for a film portraying an unusual confrontation of victims and perpetrators of the Cambodian genocide. The European Film Academy Documentary 2003 - Prix Arte goes to S21, LA MACHINE DE MORT KHMERE ROUGE (S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine) by Rithy Panh, from France.
S21 follows ETRE ET AVOIR (To Be And To Have) by Nicolas Philibert, France who was honored in the 2002 edition.

The awards will be presented during the Awards Ceremony at the Arena in Berlin on Saturday, December 6.

The European Film Awards 2003 will be presented on Saturday December 6 in a star-studded ceremony at the Arena in Berlin.

Previous winners of Critics awards at EFA:

2002 Sweet Sixteen, Ken Loach, UK
2001 La Ville est Tranquille, Robert Guédiguian, France
2000 Maysis Sikintisi (Clouds of May), Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey
1999 Adieu Plancher Des Vaches (Farewell Home Sweet Home),
Otar Iosseliani, France
1998 Bure Baruta (The Powder Keg), Goran Paskaljevic, Yugoslavia
1997 Viagem ao Principio do Mundo, Manoel De Oliveira, Portugal
1996 Breaking The Waves, Lars von Trier, Denmark
1995 To Vlemma Tou Odyssea, Theo Angelopoulos, Greece
1994 Caro Diario, Nanni Moretti, Italy
1993 Benny's Video, Michael Haneke, Austria

Bruno Chatelin