‘4 Months’ wins big at European Film Awards

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu was the big winner at the European Film Awards in Berlin on Saturday, winning not only the best picture award for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” a grim and gritty tale about a young woman seeking an illegal abortion in the final days of Nicolae Ceausescu’s Communist regime in Romania, but also the best director award.

Mungiu had already won the Palme d’Or prize for best picture at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The best screenwriter award went to Fatih Akin, the German-born Turkish writer-director, for “Auf der anderen Seite” (The Edge of Heaven). In his film, culture clashes lead to tragedy as a Turkish woman in Germany makes a fatal decision, while her political activist daughter flees from the police in Turkey to search for her.

Helen Mirren picked up another statue for her lead role in “The Queen,” the Stephen Frears-directed biography of Queen Elizabeth II. Mirren had already won numerous awards for best actress (including an Oscar and Golden Globe) this year.

Sasson Gabai received the best actor award for his role in “Bikur Ha-Tizmoret” (The Band’s Visit), a comedy about a musical band of Egyptian policemen getting lost in Israel.