2019 European Film Awards: Nominees and Favorites

Written and directed by Nora Fingscheidt, the German film tells the story of a troubled girl who doesn't fit in the child welfare system, becoming what is known as a "system crasher." The film's success has been a big surprise in Germany. It is one of six to be nominated for the EFA best film prize. It already won the best film score award, one of the categories decided before the ceremony.

Polanski's latest work, "An Officer And A Spy" (above) has been nominated in four categories, including best film and best director. However, fresh allegations against the renowned filmmaker make it a controversial choice. Other nominations for best film include Ladj Ly's "Les Miserables," Marco Bellocchio's "The Traitor" and Pedro Almodovar's "Pain & Glory."

The sixth nominee in the best film category is "The Favourite," by Yorgos Lanthimos. Rather fitting its title, the period film on Queen Anne is also seen as the award's favorite. It is also among the three finalists in the separate best comedy category, along with "Ditte & Louise" by Niclas Bendixen and "Tel Aviv on Fire" by Sameh Zoabi.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar has garnered several nominations, including best director. In "Pain and Glory," he portrays an aging film director — a work with strong autobiographical tones. Roman Polanski, Celine Sciamma, Yorgos Lanthimos and Marco Bellocchio are the other nominees in the category.

Though four of the five best director nominees are men, there are good chances that a woman will win the award this year. The French filmmaker Celine Sciamma already picked up the best screenplay award for "Portrait of a Young Lady on Fire" at the Cannes Film Festival this year (pictured above).

The two leads in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," Noemie Merlant and Adele Haenel, are jointly nominated for the award. The 11-year-old Helena Zengel also obtained a nod for her spectacular debut in "System Crasher," along with Olivia Colman for "The Favourite," Viktoria Miroshnichenko for "Beanpole" and Trine Dyrholm for "Queen of Hearts."

German actor Alexander Scheer's portrayal of an East German singer-songwriter in "Gundermann" by Andreas Dresen was recognized with a nomination. He's up against stars Antonio Banderas ("Pain and Glory") and Jean Dujardin ("An Officer and a Spy"), as well as Ingvar E. Sigurdsson ("A White, White Day"), Levan Gelbakhiani ("And Then We Danced") and Pierfrancesco Favino ("The Traitor").

The European Discovery — Prix Fipresci recognizes a director's first feature film. "Atlantics," directed by Mati Diop and starring Ibrahima Traore (picture), is one of the six nominees. "Ray & Liz," "Les Miserables," "Aniara," "Blind Spot" and "Irina" are the five other titles competing for the award.

The People's Choice Award will also be revealed at the EFA ceremony in Berlin on December 7. The audience had two months to vote for their favorite film of the year among a dozen titles. Among them was "Dogman" (above) by Italian director Matteo Garrone, which tells the story of a dog groomer caught in the violence of local gang members.

From 2012 to 2016, Syrian journalist Waad al-Kateab documented her life in war-torn Aleppo, from pregnancy to caring for her newborn baby Sama. The UK-US production "For Sama" has good chances of picking up the award for best documentary. "Honeyland," "Putin's Witnesses," "Selfie" and "The Disappearance of My Mother" are the other nominated documentaries.

The 32nd European Film Awards will also honor a TV series for the first time. The nomination process was skipped for this new prize, with the winner announced directly instead. It is the German series "Babylon Berlin" by the trio of directors Achim von Borries, Henk Handloegten and Tom Tykwer.