All Hail The Conquering Heroes

Empire Online’s intrepid reporting team braved throngs of neo-Nazi demonstrators to report on the European Film Awards in Berlin. Dodging police with riot shields, we made our way to the spiffy new Tempodrom where luminaries from the European film industry were gathering to spend a night of mutual admiration and back-patting. In the event, the British contingent did pretty well at these Euro Oscars. The first award of the evening, for People’s Choice Best Actor went to Colin Firth for Bridget Jones’s Diary. Accepting the award on Firth’s behalf, director Sharon Maguire read out a spoof acceptance from her star. ‘Since appearing in Bridget Jones’s Diary and being voted ‘Sexiest Man in Britain’ I couldn’t be arsed to turn up so have sent my director instead!’ Pythons Honoured Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones turned up to accept the Academy’s Lifetime Achievement award on behalf of the Monty Python team, but as they explained their glory days were behind them. ‘Terry’s making some absolutely dreadful films at the moment,’ Mr Jones confessed and Gilliam was quick to agree. ‘They’re terrible, they’re awful. We’re trying to save my career at the moment by burning them. Despite receiving a standing ovation for their award, the duo were circumspect about the honour. ‘We want to meet some famous people,’ joked Gilliam. ‘That’s why we came.’ But they admitted the triumph was partly marred by the recent death of the Python’s film collaborator George Harrison. ‘He was very unlike what the world thought of him,’ said Gilliam. ‘He never had any interest in being a star. But he was. He couldn’t help it.’ A third gong for the Brits came with Ben Kingsley winning the award for Best Actor. ‘It means a lot,’ said Kingsley, ‘because I was a founder member of the European film academy and to see [this event] grow in stature says a great deal for European cinema.’ Ewan's Moulin Award That was followed swiftly with an award for achievement in European film, which went to Moulin Rouge star Ewan McGregor. ‘There’s a huge weight put on all the American awards so I’m very pleased,’ he told us. ‘In America you get the token British film, that usually happens every other year, however here it’s all European stuff.’ He seemed particularly pleased that he’d been honoured for his work in Moulin Rouge. ’It was a nine month shoot which is a lot time to put your heart and soul into something so to have that recognised is lovely.’ Finally, a young up and coming director Toby MacDonald won the Prix UIP for Best European Short Film. All in all, a nice result for the UK massive. Well done folks. Amelie's the real winner The film of the evening, however, was Jean-Pierre Jeunet's magnificent modern day fairytale, Amelie. The film scooped statuettes for Best European Director, the People's Choice award for Best Director, Best Cinematograper and Best European Film. The delightfully insane Jeunet, bounded repeatedly up to the podium to babble his thanks and walked away from the ceremony a very happy Frenchman.