The European Film Academy has shortlisted 68 feature films for its 39th European Film Awards, set for January 16, 2027 in Athens. The list splits into 45 fiction titles, 15 documentaries and eight animations, and Academy members will now vote for the winners.

The fiction list carries the season's heaviest artillery. Cannes 2026 Palme d'Or winner Fjord, directed by Cristian Mungiu, and Venice Golden Lion winner Woman Unknown, directed by May el-Toukhy, both made the cut. They join awards season frontrunners La Bola Negra from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, and Lukas Dhont's Coward.

The documentary list includes the bombshell entry Naza, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, and the French box office breakout Whispers in the Woods, directed by Vincent Munier. The animation list features festival breakouts In Waves, Iron Boy and Jim Queen.

What does the short list tell us about the field?

The 68 films represent 40 European countries and include both established and emerging filmmakers, among them directors working across borders. The Academy reports that 25 of the films are directed or co-directed by women — roughly 37 percent of the list.

The fiction selection stacks several major names against each other:

• Pedro Almodóvar — Bitter Christmas (Spain)
• Werner Herzog — Bucking Fastard (Ireland, United States, Slovenia)
• Paweł Pawlikowski — Fatherland (Poland, Germany, Italy, France)
• Mike Leigh — Tender Loving Care (United Kingdom)
• Andrey Zvyagintsev — Minotaur (France, Germany, Latvia)
• Radu Jude — The Diary of a Chambermaid (France, Romania)
• Florian Zeller — Bunker (France, Spain)

That is seven major auteurs competing for a handful of nomination slots, before counting Mungiu, el-Toukhy, Dhont, Rodrigo Sorogoyen with The Beloved, and İlker Çatak with Yellow Letters.

How does the vote work from here?

Winners are voted for by members of the European Film Academy. The short list itself functions as the gateway: a nomination now requires landing on one of these three category lists. The Academy has not stated how many nominations each category will produce or when it will announce the nominees, so the timeline between this list and the January ceremony remains open.

One structural note: the fiction list rewards breadth. Fjord lists six co-producing countries (Romania, France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland), and Shame and Money lists six production territories. Multi-country financing dominates the list, which matters for the Academy's eligibility mechanics even if it changes nothing about who votes.

What does this change for the frontrunners?

For Fjord and Woman Unknown, the short list confirms what festival juries already decided: both enter the member vote as the films to beat. For La Bola Negra and Coward, the list keeps their campaigns alive without settling anything — member voting, not shortlisting, determines the winners.

The full lists follow.

Animation: Decorado (Alberto Vázquez), In Waves (Phuong May Nguyen), Iron Boy (Louis Clichy), Jim Queen (Marco Nguyen & Nicolas Athané), Julián (Louise Bagnall), Lucy Lost (Olivier Clert), Monster Mia (Verena Fels), Viva Carmen (Sébastien Laudenbach).

Documentary: A Fox Under a Pink Moon (Mehrdad Oskouei & Soraya Akhlaghi), Amazomania (Nathan Grossman), Bugboy (Lucas Paleocrassas), Citizen Osama (Ahmed Hassouna), Closure (Michał Marczak), Everybody to Kenmure Street (Felipe Bustos Sierra), La Belle Année (Angelica Ruffier), Letters From the Silenced Country (Andrei Kutsila), Naza (Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor), Queer Edward II (Theo Rollason), Rehearsals for a Revolution (Pegah Ahangarani), Rescue (Sine Plambech), To Hold a Mountain (Biljana Tutorov & Petar Glomazić), Traces (Alisa Kovalenko & Marysia Nikitiuk), Whispers in the Woods (Vincent Munier).

Fiction: A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra (Jacqueline Lentzou), A Man of His Time (Emmanuel Marre), Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodóvar), Black Money for White Nights (Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov), Brace Your Heart (Amanda Kernell), Bucking Fastard (Werner Herzog), Bunker (Florian Zeller), Conversation with the Sea (Muayad Alayan), Coward (Lukas Dhont), Dau (Ilya Khrzhanovsky), De Gaulle: Résistance / Liberté (Antonin Baudry), Diane in the Loop (Ann Sirot & Raphaël Balboni), Dua (Blerta Basholli), Elsinore (Simon Stone), Everytime (Sandra Wollner), Fatherland (Paweł Pawlikowski), Fjord (Cristian Mungiu), Gentle Monster (Marie Kreutzer), Growth of the Soil (Hans Petter Moland), Hold Onto Me (Myrsini Aristidou), How to Divorce During the War (Andrius Blaževičius), I Matter (Alina Șerban), I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Clio Barnard), Iván & Hadoum (Ian de la Rosa), La Bola Negra (Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi), La Gradiva (Marine Atlan), Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev), Only Beautiful Things to Look At (Ivan Ostrochovský), Red Rocks (Bruno Dumont), Rose (Markus Schleinzer), Salvation (Emin Alper), Shame and Money (Visar Morina), Supporting Role (Ana Urushadze), Tender Loving Care (Mike Leigh), The Beloved (Rodrigo Sorogoyen), The Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude), The Dreamed Adventure (Valeska Grisebach), The Guest (Mads Mengel), The Soundman (Frank Van Passel), The Spiral (Paolo Strippoli), To the Victory! (Valentyn Vasyanovych), Truly Naked (Muriel d'Ansembourg), Woman Unknown (May el-Toukhy), Yellow Letters (İlker Çatak), You Don't Belong Here (Florin Șerban).

Sixty-eight films, three lists, one member vote — and no nominees named yet.