European Film Awards Unveil One Of Their Strongest Animation Lineups In Years

The European Film Academy has announced the five animated feature nominees for the upcoming 39th European Film Awards, set to take place on January 16, 2027, in Athens, Greece.

Revealed on Saturday at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, this year’s field is one of the strongest animation lineups the EFA’s have boasted in years. France, perhaps predictably, had a hand in all five nominees: Phuong Mai Nguyen’s In Waves, Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy, Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané’s Jim Queen, Olivier Clert’s Lucy Lost, and Sébastien Laudenbach’s Viva Carmen. The first three also feature Belgian co-producers.

From the nominees, two recently secured U.S. theatrical releases. Iron Boy, which picked up awards at Cannes and Annecy, is also in the running for the European Young Audience Award. And just this week, Magnolia Pictures picked up Jim Queen, a raucous adult comedy set in Paris’s gay nightlife scene, for an English-language theatrical release next summer.

The European Animation Film award is presented in partnership with Cartoon, the European Association for Animation Film that organizes Cartoon Movie, Forum, Springboard, Next, and Business. Under rules introduced in 2024, all five nominees also automatically compete for the top European Film award alongside the live-action fiction and documentary nominees.

Two animated shorts also made it into the list of five nominees for European Short Film. Jocelyn Charles’ God Is Shy and Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s The End are up against L’Mina, Morning Circle, and Unleaded 95. The Academy announced the category’s nominees Friday at the Seville European Film Festival.

The Academy’s 5,700 members will now vote for the winners, who will be announced at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens.

2027 European Animation Film Nominees

• In Waves, Phuong Mai Nguyen (France, Belgium)
• Iron Boy (Le Corset), Louis Clichy (France, Belgium)
• Jim Queen, Marco Nguyen & Nicolas Athané (France, Belgium)
• Lucy Lost, Olivier Clert (France)
• Viva Carmen (Carmen, l’oiseau rebelle), Sébastien Laudenbach (France)

2027 European Short Film Nominees

• God Is Shy (Dieu est timide), Jocelyn Charles (France)
• L’Mina, Randa Maroufi (France, Morocco, Italy, Qatar, United Arab Emirates)
• Morning Circle (Morgenkreis), Basma al-Sharif (Germany, Canada, United Arab Emirates)
• The End, Niki Lindroth von Bahr (Sweden, France, Denmark)
• Unleaded 95 (Bleifrei 95), Emma Hütt & Tina Muffler (Germany, Austria)