The European Film Academy welcomes 462 film professionals as new members, who will all be eligible to vote. The names of all new members have been announced on Europe Day, 9 May 2023. Members are invited once per year. A record of invited European filmmakers has accepted membership this year, strengthening the voice of European cinema all over the continent.

Among the new members, 50% are women, 49% are men or 1% defines as non-binary. Most new members stem from Germany (68), France (38), Switzerland (37), Poland (36), Italy (33), Spain (24), UK (28) and Ukraine (26), but also numerous members have joined from the Netherlands (19), Sweden (13), Serbia (11), Austria (10), Norway (9), Bulgaria, Finland, Iceland, Turkey (all 8), Belgium and Denmark (both 7). A fifth of the new members joining are young members under 36 years old. This strengthens the representation of a younger yet notable generation of European filmmakers within the European Film Academy. Overall, an increasing number of members representing the arts and crafts of cinema have been invited. In the upcoming years, the European Film Academy is keen to further increase the number of members working as editors, production designers, sound designers, composers, hair and make-up artists or costume designers.

New members of the European Film Academy include Kurdwin Ayub (Austria), Marie Kreutzer (Austria), Sebastian Meise (Austria), Aliaksei Paluyan (Belarus), Michiel Dhont (Belgium), Diana Cam Van Nguyen (Czech Republic), Vicki Berlin (Denmark), Elliot Crosset Hove (Denmark), Laura Birn (Finland), Sherwan Haji (Finland), Karim Aïnouz (Germany), Christopher Aoun (Germany), Charly Hübner (Germany), Meltem Kaplan (Germany), Paulina Lorenz (Germany), Abdullah Emre Öztürk (Germany), Christiane Paul (Germany), Frank Petzold (Germany), Philipp Scheffner (Germany), Faraz Shariat (Germany), Ina Weisse (Germany), Pipaluk Kreutzmann Jørgensen (Greenland), Katalin Bársony (Hungary), Hera Hilmar (Iceland), Valdimar Jóhansson (Iceland), Willem Dafoe (Italy), Laura Samani (Italy), Signe Baumane (Latvia), Stephanie Stremler (Luxembourg), Jerzy Skolimowski (Poland), Aleksandra Terpińska (Poland), André Santos (Portugal), Marco Leão (Portugal), Adam Davenport (Serbia), Jasna Đuričić (Serbia), Erdal Murat Aktaş (Spain), Séverine Cornamusaz (Switzerland), Louis Hothothot (Netherlands), Dana Nechushtan (Netherlands), Walter Stokman (Netherlands), Kutluğ Ataman (Turkey), Anastasia Karpenko (Ukraine) Christina Tynkevych (Ukraine), Mia Bays (UK).

Among the new members of the European Film Academy are also 8 Romani filmmakers, stemming from the Roma populations in Hungary, UK, Germany, Austria, Kosovo and Sweden. 

All members of the European Film Academy are committed to supporting the idea of a united European cinema, instead of promoting mere national interests. All members can register to vote every year and by doing so get access to the Academy Selection of films which are the pool from which nominations and award winners are chosen. Additionally, the Academy organizes events throughout the year, both in-person or online, that help members to connect to each other. Special focus programmes on the Academy VOD platform promote European films and are exclusively accessible to members. Building a European film community of filmmakers, and by doing so growing interest and accessibility of European cinema to a community of film-lovers is one of the main drives of the European Film Academy throughout the year.

Currently, the European Film Academy has 4,600 members in 52 countries.

Originally, the European Film Academy was founded by renown European filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Pedro Almodóvar, Liliana Cavani, Claude Chabrol, Federico Fellini, Isabelle Huppert, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Giulietta Masina, Marcello Mastrioianni, David Puttnam, Hanna Schygulla, István Szabó, Liv Ullmann, and Wim Wenders – and limited to a maximum of 99 members. Since the 1990s, the number of members has gradually increased. Since 2020, the number of Academy members has increased with 20%.

The European Film Academy seeks to support and connect its 4,600 members and celebrates and promotes their work. Its aims are to share knowledge and to educate audiences of all ages about European cinema. Positioning itself as a leading organization and facilitating crucial debates within the industry, the Academy strives to unite everyone who loves European cinema, culminating annually in the Month of European Film and the European Film Awards,strengthening European film heritage, and by launching the European Film Club for young audiences in autumn 2023.

www.europeanfilmacademy.org

For more information, please contact:

SteinbrennerMüller Kommunikation

Dr. Kathrin Steinbrenner / Kristian Müller

Telephone: +49 (0)30 4737 -2191 / -2192
Email: mail@steinbrennermueller.de