| European Film Award for Best Screenwriter | |
|---|---|
 _(cropped).jpg) The 2025 recipients:Joachim Trier andEskil Vogt | |
| Awarded for | Best Achievement in Screenwriting |
| Presented by | European Film Academy |
| First award | Louis Malle Au revoir les enfants (1988) |
| Currently held by | Joachim Trier andEskil Vogt Sentimental Value (2025) |
| Website | europeanfilmacademy |
TheEuropean Film Award for Best Screenwriter is an award given out at the annualEuropean Film Awards to recognize a screenwriter who has delivered an outstanding screenplay in afilm industry. The award is presented by theEuropean Film Academy (EFA) and was first presented in 1988 to French director and screenwriterLouis Malle forGoodbye Children.
István Szabó,Agnès Jaoui,Jean-Pierre Bacri,Thomas Vinterberg,Tobias Lindholm,Ruben Östlund andPaweł Pawlikowski are the only writers who have received this award more than once, with two wins each.
| Year | Winner and nominees | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 (1st) | Louis Malle | Goodbye Children | Au Revoir Les Enfants |
| Manoel de Oliveira | The Cannibals | Os Canibais | |
| Terence Davies | Distant Voices, Still Lives | ||
| Daniele Luchetti Franco Bernini Angelo Pasquini | It's Happening Tomorrow | Domani accadrà | |
| Wolfgang Held | Bear Ye One Another's Burden | Einer trage des anderen Last | |
| 1989 (2nd) | Mariya Khmelik | Little Vera | Ма́ленькая Ве́ра |
| Géza Bereményi | The Midas Touch | Eldorádó | |
| Þráinn Bertelsson | Magnus | ||
| Theodoros Angelopoulos Tonino Guerra Thanassis Valtinos | Landscape in the Mist | Topio stin omichli | |
| Maciej Dejczer Cezary Harasimowicz | 300 Miles to Heaven | 300 mil do nieba | |
| Year | Winner and nominees | English title | Original title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 (3rd) | Vitali Kanevsky | Freeze Die Come to Life | Замри, умри, воскресни |
| Ryszard Bugajski Janusz Dymek | Interrogation | Przesłuchanie | |
| Etienne Glaser Madeleine Gustafsson Suzanne Osten | The Guardian Angel | Skyddsängeln | |
| 1991 (4th) | Jaco Van Dormael | Toto the Hero | Toto le Héros |
| 1992 (5th) | István Szabó | Sweet Emma, Dear Böbe | Édes Emma, drága Böbe - vázlatok, aktok |
| 1993 (6th) | No award given | ||
| 1994 (7th) | No award given | ||
| 1995 (8th) | No award given | ||
| 1996 (9th) | Arif Aliev Sergei Bodrov Boris Giller | Prisoner of the Mountains | Кавказский пленник |
| 1997 (10th) | Chris Vander Stappen Alain Berliner | Ma Vie en Rose | |
| Ademir Kenović Abdulah Sidran | The Perfect Circle | Savršeni krug | |
| Andrei Kurkov | A Friend of the Deceased | Priyatel pokoynika | |
| 1998 (11th) | Peter Howitt | Sliding Doors | |
| Lars von Trier | The Idiots | Idioterne | |
| Alex van Warmerdam | Little Tony | Kleine Teun | |
| Jean-Pierre Bacri Agnès Jaoui | Same Old Song | On connaît la chanson | |
| 1999 (12th) | István Szabó Israel Horovitz | Sunshine | |
| Saša Gedeon | The Idiot Returns | Návrat idiota | |
| Ayub Khan Din | East is East | ||
