Melancholia Tops European Film Awards, Susanne Bier Named Best Director, Tilda Swinton & Colin Firth Get Acting Honors

The European Film Awards just wrapped in Berlin where Lars von Triers Melancholia was honored with the top prize. However, it was Susanne Bier who took the best director honors for her Oscar-winning In A Better World. Cannes-watchers may recall that during von Triers press conference at the festival last May, the Danish bad-boy not so kindly singled out his compatriot during the now-infamous rant that made him persona non grata on the Riviera. For a long time I was a Jew and I was happy to be a Jew, then I metSusanne Bier and I wasnt so happy,” von Trier said back then. “But then I found out I was actually a Nazi. My family was German. That also gave me pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler. I sympathize with him a bit.” Melancholia tonight also took prizes for cinematography and production design. Other winners include Tilda Swinton, best actress for We Need To Talk About Kevin, Oscar winner Colin Firth, best actor for The Kings Speech, the Dardenne brothers for writing The Kid With A Bike, Wim Wenders’ Pina for best documentary and Ludovic Bource for his score of Oscar hopeful The Artist. A full list of winners can be found here.