The 1st Annual European Film Awards, presented by the European Film Academy, recognized excellence in European cinema. The ceremony took place on 1 December 1988 at the Theater des Westens in West Berlin and was hosted by Luxembourgish presenter Desirée Nosbusch and German actor Jan Niklas.^[1]

British film Distant Voices, Still Lives led the nominations with five^[2] but the films Wings of Desire, Pelle the Conqueror and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown got the most wins with two each.^[3] Krzysztof Kieślowski's A Short Film About Killing received the award for Best European Film.^[4]

The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to two iconic European directors, to Swedish director Ingmar Bergman presented by German actress Nastasja Kinski and to Italian director Marcello Mastroianni presented by Italian actress Giulietta Masina. English actor Sir Richard Attenborough received the Award of Merit, which was presented by Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida while two Special Awards were presented, one to Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci for The Last Emperor and one to Russian composer Yuri Khanon for the music of The Days of Eclipse.

Winners and nominees

The winners are in a yellow background and in bold.

Best European Film

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Producer(s)	Country
A Short Film About Killing	Krotki film o zabijaniu)	Krzysztof Kieslowski	Ryszard Chutkowski
Goodbye Children	Au revoir les enfants	Louis Malle
The Animated Forest	El bosque animado	José Luis Cuerda	Eduardo Ducay
Distant Voices, Still Lives		Terence Davies	Jennifer Howarth
Wings of Desire	Der Himmel über Berlin	Wim Wenders
Pelle the Conqueror	Pelle erobreren	Bille August	Per Holst

Best European Director

Recipient(s)	English title	Original title
Wim Wenders	Wings of Desire	Der Himmel über Berlin
Terence Davies	Distant Voices, Still Lives
Louis Malle	Goodbye Children	Au revoir les enfants
Manoel de Oliveira	The Cannibals	Os canibais
Sergei Parajanov	The Lovelorn Minstrel	Ashik Kerib / აშიკ-ქერიბი)

Best European Actress

Recipient(s)	English title	Original title	Role
Carmen Maura	Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown	Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios	Pepa
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir	In the Shadow of the Raven	Í skugga hrafnsins	Isold
Ornella Muti	Private Access	Codice privato	Anna
Carol Scanlan	Reefer and the Model		Teresa "the Model"

Best European Actor

Recipient(s)	English title	Original title	Role
/ Max von Sydow	Pelle the Conqueror	Pelle erobreren	Lassefar "Lasse" Karlsson
/ Klaus Maria Brandauer	Hanussen		Klaus Schneider / Erik Jan Hanussen
Alfredo Landa	El bosque animado		Malvís / Bandid Fendetestas
Udo Samel	Mit meinen heißen Tränen		Franz Schubert
Dorel Vişan	Iacob		Iacob

Best European Supporting Actress

Recipient(s)	English title	Original title	Role
Johanna ter Steege	The Vanishing	Spoorloos	Saskia Wagter
Lene Brøndum	Hip Hip Hurrah!	Hip hip hurra! / Hipp hipp hurra!	Lille
Freda Dowie	Distant Voices, Still Lives		Mother / Nell Davies
Karin Gregorek	Bear Ye One Another's Burden	Einer trage des anderen Last	Oberschwester Walburga

Best European Supporting Actor

Recipient(s)	English title	Original title	Role
Curt Bois	Wings of Desire	Der Himmel über Berlin	Homer
Björn Granath	Pelle the Conqueror	Pelle Erobreren	Erik
Ray McBride	Reefer and the Model		Badger
Wojciech Pszoniak	Mit meinen heißen Tränen		Kajetan
Helgi Skúlason	Shadow of the Raven	Í skugga hrafnsins	Grim

Best European Young Actor or Actress

Recipient(s)	English title	Original title	Role
Pelle Hvenegaard	Pelle the Conqueror	Pelle Erobreren	Pelle Karlsson
Ondřej Vetchý	House for Two	Dům pro dva	Dan
Michaela Widhalm	Mit meinen heißen Tränen		Schuberts Halbschwester Josefa
Stefan Wood	Cripples Go Christmas	Das Mädchen mit den Feuerzeugen	Spasski

Best European Script

Recipient(s)	English title	Original title
Louis Malle	Goodbye Children	Au revoir les enfants
Manoel de Oliveira	The Cannibals	Os Canibais
Terence Davies	Distant Voices, Still Lives
Angelo Pasquini	It's Happening Tomorrow	Domani accadrà
Wolfgang Held	Bear Ye One Another's Burden	Einer trage des anderen Last

Best Young Film

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Producer(s)	Country
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown	Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios	Pedro Almodóvar	Augustin Almodovár
Damnation	Kárhozat	Béla Tarr	József Marx, Tamas Liszkay
Days of Darkness	Дни затмения	Aleksandr Sokurov	-
It's Happening Tomorrow	Domani accadrà	Daniele Luchetti	Angelo Barbagallo, Nanni Moretti
Pathfinder	Ofelaš	Nils Gaup	John M. Jacobsen
Reefer and the Model		Joe Comerford	Lelia Doolan
Stormy Monday		Mike Figgis	Nigel Stafford-Clark	,

Special Aspect Award

Lifetime Achievement Award

Ingmar Bergman

Marcello Mastroianni

Special Jury Award

Bernardo Bertolucci - for The Last Emperor

Yuri Khanon - The Days of Eclipse (Special Prize of the Jury for the music the film)

Award of Merit

Sir Richard Attenborough