'Teddy Bear,' 'Kauwboy' Among European Film Award Discovery Nominees

COLOGNE, Germany - Sundance Entry Teddy Bear - a Danish drama about a shy bodybuilder looking for love; the Dutch children's film Kauwboy and the German drama Reported Missing are among the titles in the running this year for the European Film Academy's European Discovery 2012 - Prix FIPRESCI, the EFA's newcomer honour.

our editor recommends

Ken Loach, Michael Haneke Movies Make First Nominations List for European Film Awards

Teddy Bear: Sundance Film Review

Twilight Portrait: Hong Kong Film Festival Review

Broken: Cannes Review

Broken, the debut feature from British director Rufus Norris, which stars Cillian Murphy, Tim Roth and Zana Marjanovic (In the Land of Blood and Honey) is also nominated for the EFA's Discovery prize, along with Twilight Portrait, a dark drama from Russian director Angelina Nikonova in which a well-off Moscow woman enters into a bizarre series of erotic encounters with a deadbeat cop.

All five titles come with a strong festival pedigree. Teddy Bear won the World Cinema's Best Director prize in Sundance; Kauwboy and Reported Missing debuted in Berlin, where Kauwboy took the best first movie award in the Generation Kplus section; Broken premiered in Cannes and Twilight Portrait has scooped up multiple festival honours, winning the Best Director prize in Thessaloniki, the Golden Puffin at the Reykjavik International Film Festival and the Grand Prize for Best Film at the Cottbus Festival for young Eastern European Cinema.

A jury comprising EFA members Helena Danielsson (Sweden), Els Vandevorst (the Netherlands), Pierre-Henri Deleau (France), Jacob Neiiendam (Denmark), Alin Tasciyan (Turkey), Paulo Portugal (Portugal) and Mihai Chirilov (Romania) selected the five films for the EFA Discovery award shortlist, together with members of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics.

The winner of the European Discovery 2012 honor will be announced at the EFA awards ceremony in Malta on Dec. 1.