The award ceremony was held yesterday, December 6th, at Copenhagen, Denmark. The list of winners follows.

But before that, a little commentary: Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra (Gomorrah) swept the stage clean bagging five top awards. Laurent Cantet’s Entre les murs (The Class), the Cannes favorite failed to win even one. Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo, the other Italian entry, scored a win for actor Toni Servillo, but Servillo also starred in Gomorra. Seems like the jury’s answer to the question ‘which performance was better?’ is unresolved as they made it a point to cite both films when presenting the award.

Steve McQueen’s Hunger was not completely empty-handed in the end as it won the European Discovery 2008 award.

Kristin Scott Thomas won the top prize for an actress for her role in Philippe Claudel’s Il y a longtemps que je t’aime (I’ve Loved You So Long).

Dame Judi Dench, who was presented the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here is the complete list of the European Film Awards 2008 winners:

EUROPEAN FILM 2008
GOMORRA (Gomorrah)
directed by Matteo Garrone
written by Maurizio Bracci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso & Roberto Saviano
produced by Fandango, RAI Cinema

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2008
Matteo Garrone for GOMORRA (Gomorrah)

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2008
Toni Servillo in GOMORRA (Gomorrah) and IL DIVO

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2008
Kristin Scott Thomas in IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME (I’ve Loved You So Long)

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2008
Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso & Roberto Saviano for GOMORRA (Gomorrah)

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2008
Marco Onorato for GOMORRA (Gomorrah)

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY PRIX D’EXCELLENCE 2008
Magdalena Biedrzycka for costume design, KATYN

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2008
Max Richter for WALTZ WITH BASHIR

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2008
HUNGER
directed by Steve McQueen
written by Enda Walsh & Steve McQueen

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY CRITICS’ AWARD 2008 - Prix FIPRESCI
Abdellatif Kechiche
for LA GRAINE ET LE MULET (The Secret of the Grain / Couscous)

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2008 - Pix ARTE
RENÉ by Helena Trestikova

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2008 - Prix UIP
FRANKIE by Darren Thornton

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dame Judi Dench

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2008
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Kristian Levring, Lars von Trier, and Thomas Vinterberg

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2008
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
directed by David Yates
written by Michael Goldenberg