At the Seville European Film Festival last weekend, nominations for the 30^th European Film Academy Awards have been announced. Two films from this year’s ZFF (11-19 November) line-up will be running for the so-called European Oscars in the best film category: 120 Beats per Minute by Robin Campillo, screened in ZFF’s Lux Film Day section, and Loveless by Andrei Zvyagintsev, in the Together Again competition.

The French film 120 Beats per Minute is an erotic and emotional drama about young Parisian activists in the 1990s, at the peak of the AIDS epidemic, desperately trying to raise awareness of this stigmatised illness. The film has already won the Grand Prix in Cannes and is the French Oscar candidate.

Loveless is a new title by the Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev, ZFF’s old dear friend, who won two Golden Prams and whose film The Return was screened in 2003 at the first ever edition of ZFF. A story about tragic consequences of a failed marriage in its final stage and child abduction won the Jury Award this year at Cannes Film Festival.

Next to the titles from ZFF’s programme, the best European film nominees also include The Square, the latest film by the Swedish director Ruben Östlund, whose debut film The Guitar Mongoloid was screened in ZFF’s category My First Film: Sweden. The Square, a satirical drama starring Elizabeth Moss and Claes Bang, the winner of Palm d’Or in Cannes and a nominee in many other categories, will skip this year’s festival, but will be released on 14 December across the Cinema Network and at Europa Cinema.

Andrei Zvyagintsev is also shortlisted for the best director award, and together with Oleg Negin he is nominated for the best screenplay as well. Actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart is running for the best European actor for his role in 120 Beats per Minute.

The best European comedy nominees include the Belgian-French humour drama Vincent by Christoph von Rompaey about a young suicidal environmentalist, screened in ZFF’s PLUS section, and the Belgian-Dutch-Bulgarian satire The King of Belgians by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, screened at ZFF last year. The film’s director Peter Brosens will soon be arriving in Zagreb as one of the 15^th ZFF jury members.

Summer 1993 by the Spanish director Carla Simón, screened in the PLUS section, is nominated in the European Discovery category, and the list of short film nominees includes the Greek film Copa Loca, directed by Christos Masalas, screened in the category Festivals in the Spotlight.

Over 3000 EFA members will vote for the winners, and their decisions will be made public at the official award ceremony in Berlin on 9 December.