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34th European Film Awards
Berlin

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Mark Cousins to curate the ceremony of the 38th European Film Awards, turning it into “a live film-essay”

In close collaboration with film composer Dascha Dauenhauer and stage director Robert Lehniger

Irish-Scottish filmmaker Mark Cousins has joined the creative team preparing the 38th edition of the European Film Awards, which will take place on 17 January 2026 at the House of World Cultures (HKW) in Berlin. The appointment follows the wish of the European Film Academy to create more impact with its annual ceremony, and steer away from generic scripts dominated by award categories and acceptance speeches. Instead, the annual award show for European cinema, now taking place more prominently in the international awards season just after the Golden Globes and during the Oscar nomination voting period, will ask “why do we love cinema?” and be an artistic experience in itself.

Mark Cousins (1965) is best known for his numerous and successful documentary films, including the 15-hour THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY (2011) and WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA (2019), which was awarded the European Film Award for Innovative Storytelling in 2020. His film THE MARCH ON ROME was nominated in the category European Documentary 2022 for the 35th European Film Awards. His most recent work, A SUDDEN GLIMPSE TO DEEPER THINGS, about artists Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, won the Crystal Globe for best film in Karlovy Vary in 2024.

Cousins has been co-director of a number of innovatively staged film events with Tilda Swinton, with whom he also initiated the 8 1/2 Foundation, aiming to link children to the world of cinema.  

Cousins on his involvement in the upcoming award ceremony: “I love playing with the form of film events, so I jumped at the chance to be part of the European Film Awards’ evening.  We hope to have some surprises. We’ll try to conjure cinematic images, emotions and ideas. I’m honoured to work with Robert, Dascha and the Academy team, in a building I’ve long admired.” 

Mark Cousins is joined by German film composer Dascha Dauenhauer, who has signed responsible for the musical concept of the event, and theatre director Robert Lehniger, who acts as stage director and oversees the award ceremony. 

Dascha Dauenhauer (1989) can be called one of the most successful of a new generation of film composers. Born in Moscow, she grew up in Berlin and studied piano, music theory and composition. While writing chamber music and solo works, her piece Sinfonietta was performed at the Berliner Philharmonie in 2004, when she was just 15. After continuing her studies and focusing on film score composition, she won a European Film Award for her Original Score of BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ (Burhan Qurbani, 2020) and most recently her second German Film Award for her score of Jan-Ole Gerster’s ISLANDS (2025). Her other works include the scores for EVOLUTION (Kornél Mundruczó, 2021), GOLDA (Guy Nattiv, 2023) and TATAMI (Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi, 2024).

Stage director Robert Lehniger is a German-born theatre director and video artist who has worked as an independent director throughout the German, Swiss and Austrian theatre landscape. His work is characterised by the use of digital media in combination with stage performance, bridging the gap between theatre and cinema. Among his many productions fuelled by his passion for cinema are THE DREAMERS (2009, Schauspiel Hannover), based on the novel by Gilbert Adair, WEEK END (2010, Theater Neumarkt Zurich), inspired by the film by Jean-Luc Godard, and KATZELMACHER (2025, Staatsschauspiel Dresden) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Since 2022, he acts as Principal of the MetFilm School in Berlin. Lehniger was already responsible for the stage direction of the European Film Awards 2023. 

The European Film Awards is a joined production of the European Film Academy and its in-house production arm, European Film Academy Productions — with Jürgen Biesinger as the show’s leading producer.

In a reaction, Academy Director Matthijs Wouter Knol sums up: “Together with Academy President Juliette Binoche and outgoing Chairman Mike Downey, we have worked in the past year to fulfil our shared wish to create a more idiosyncratic form to celebrate European cinema. Cinema has been born in Europe. And Europe continuously forms the source of new international talent, daring storytelling and technical innovation, that all impact the images we see. Being able to work now with Robert, Dascha and Mark is an important step to create an event that can’t be missed. Every year, we want the European Film Awards ceremony to be a true celebratory highlight for everyone loving European films. And yes, we believe that European cinema deserves a bold, mesmerising, and inspiring celebration that may well last three hours once per year.”