European Film Academy Names First Community Award Honorees — SkimNews
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- European Film Academy named Beki Probst, Marin Karmitz, and Sandra den Hamer as the first recipients of its new Community Award, recognizing "a decisive and continuous contribution over many years" to European film culture.
- The award will be presented January 15, 2027, at the Acropolis Museum in Athens — home to some 4,000 artefacts dating as far back as 1,200 BCE — on the eve of the 39th European Film Awards main ceremony.
- Beki Probst founded the Berlinale's European Film Market in 1988 and led it until 2014, growing it into one of Europe's largest international film markets; she previously received the Berlinale Camera and honors from Switzerland, France, and Germany.
- Marin Karmitz, founder of France's mk2 film, worked as assistant director to Jean-Luc Godard and Agnès Varda before collaborating with Samuel Beckett on Comédie (1965); he produced 108 films and distributed more than 350 titles including Kieslowski's Three Colours trilogy.
- Sandra den Hamer directed the Netherlands Filmmuseum — later renamed Eye Filmmuseum — from 2007 to 2023, overseeing a new building and collection center in Amsterdam, and previously ran the International Film Festival Rotterdam from 1996 to 2007.
- The Academy, which counts 5,700 members from more than 50 countries, is holding the ceremony in Athens for the second time in its new January slot after moving it from a long-running December date to integrate the awards more fully into awards season.
Why it matters: By creating an award for sustained institutional contribution rather than individual films, the Academy — with its 5,700 members across 50+ countries — is putting its weight behind the behind-the-scenes figures who built Europe's arthouse infrastructure, from Probst's Berlin market to Karmitz's mk2 distribution network to the Eye Filmmuseum's archive.
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