The two biggest European films of the year, Amelie and Bridget Jones's Diary, are to fight it out next month in the European Film Awards, according to a nominations list released Wednesday by organizers.
The two movies top a field of eight productions put in the ring by the European Film Academy, which is to announce the winner in a celebrity-studded ceremony in Berlin on December 1 to be opened by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
The other films competing are: The Others, a well-received ghost story starring Nicole Kidman and directed by upcoming Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar; Intimacy, a French-Italian co-production that won this year's Berlinale; Cannes winner The Son's Room by Italy's Nanni Moretti; Germany's The Experiment; Denmark's Italian for Beginners; and France's The Piano Teacher.
Amelie, a charming tale of shy girl doing good deeds and finding love in an illusionary Paris directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is France's top-box office success and is doing roaring business in the United States, where it has just opened.
Bridget Jones, starring Hugh Grant and Renee Zellweger, has already raked in an appreciable number of receipts around the world for its solid blend of humor and romance -- AFP
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
