Alice Rohrwacher Honored with Achievement Award at European Film Awards

The European Film Academy will honor Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award during the 38th European Film Awards, scheduled for January 17, 2026, in Berlin. This prestigious recognition highlights Rohrwacher’s significant contributions to global cinema and her fruitful collaboration with producer Carlo Cresto-Dina and his company, tempesta, which has been instrumental in producing all her feature films.

In its announcement, the Academy praised Rohrwacher for her “unusual and inspiring body of work,” emphasizing her “careful eye for the realities of a teenager’s life” and her “big heart for the countryside.” They described her as “one of contemporary cinema’s most distinctive voices worldwide.”

Born in Tuscany, Alice Rohrwacher pursued her studies in literature and philosophy in Turin before specializing in documentary filmmaking in Lisbon. Her journey into feature films began with her debut, Corpo Celeste, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 and received a nomination for the Italian David di Donatello Awards.

Rohrwacher made a notable return to Cannes with her second feature, The Wonders, in 2014, which won the Grand Jury Prize. She continued to earn accolades with Happy as Lazzaro in 2018, which not only won the award for Best Screenplay but also received nominations for both the European Film Award and the David di Donatello Awards.

Her recent projects include Futura (2021), a collaborative documentary that captures the perspectives of Italian teenagers, and La Chimera (2023), which follows a group of grave robbers involved in Etruscan antiquities. The film features actors Josh O’Connor, Alba Rohrwacher, and Isabella Rossellini. Premiering at Cannes, La Chimera garnered multiple international nominations, including an award for production design at the European Film Awards.

In addition to her feature films, Rohrwacher’s 2023 short film, Le Pupille, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film.

The European Film Awards, organized annually by the European Film Academy, celebrate excellence in European filmmaking while promoting the continent’s cinematic heritage. With a community of more than 5,000 members, these awards play a vital role in recognizing and supporting the artistic achievements of filmmakers across Europe.