Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier won Best Screenwriter for Sentimental Value at the 38th European Film Awards on Saturday evening.

The win followed Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve scooping Best European Actor and European Best Actress for their performance in the film at the ceremony

The Cannes Grand Prix winner went into the ceremony as the frontrunner with nominations also for best film an director.

Other strong contenders include Oliver Laxe’s Morocco-set drama Sirāt, Mascha Schilinski’s debut film Sound of Falling and Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident.

In awards announced earlier in the evening, Oliver Laxe’s Oscar hopeful Sirāt dominated the craft awards with wins for Best European Production Designer, Best European Sound Design, Best Editor and Best European Casting Director.

Iranian director Panahi opened the ceremony in Berlin with an impassioned plea asking the world not to remain silent in the wake of “the unprecedented massacre” unfolding in Iran.

Panahi was speaking ten days into a brutal crackdown by Iran’s hardline government of nationwide popular protests. At least 3,000 protestors are believed to have been killed and another 18,000 arrested, although Panahi reiterated report of 12,000 deaths in his speech.

“This is not just the pain of one country if the world does not respond to this blatant violence today. Not only Iran but the entire world is at risk. Violence left unanswered becomes normalized and when it become normalized, it’s spread become contagious,” he said.

“When the truth is crushed in one place, freedom suffocates everywhere. Then no-one is safe. Anywhere in the world, not in Iran, not in Europe, not in America… that is precisely why today as filmmakers and artists more than ever, if we are disappointed with politicians, we must at least must refuse to remain silent because silence in a time of crime is not neutrality silence, silence is a participation in darkness.”

There were also honorary prizes for Norwegian acting legend Liv Ullmann and Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the European Achievement in World Cinema Award respectively.

Ullmann used her acceptance speech to express the roll of cinema in capturing human reality as well as her consternation at  U.S. President Donald Trump being recently presented by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado with her Nobel Peace Prize.

In the first major award of the evening, Arco by Ugo Bienvenu won the Best European Animated Feature Film.

It continues award-winning spree for the work, produced by Natalie Portman produced with Sophie Mas under their joint Paris and New York banner MountainA and Félix de Givry, which also won Best Film At Annecy and is on the Bafta long-list for Best Animated Film.

In other awards announced early in the evening, Oliver Laxe’s Oscar hopeful Sirāt won Best European Production Designer.

Deadline is in Berlin covering the ceremony, check in here for live update.

2026 European Film Awards Winners:

Best European Actor
Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value

Best European Actress
Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value

Best European Animated Feature Film
Arco (France)
Directed by Ugo Bienvenu

Best European Screenwriter
Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value

Best European Editor
Cristóbal Fernández for Sirāt

European Casting Director
Nadia Acimi, Luís Bértolo & María Rodrigo for Sirāt

Best European Make-up & Hair Artist
Torsten Witte for Bugonia

European Sound Designer
Laia Casanovas for Sirāt

European Production Designer
Laia Ateca for Sirāt

European Costume Designer
Sabrina Krämer for Sound Of Falling 

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI
On Falling (United Kingdom, Portugal)
Directed by Laura Carreira

European Young Audience Award
Siblings (Italy)
Directed by Greta Scarano

European Short Film – Prix Vimeo
City of Poets
Directed by John Smith