UPDATE, WRITETHRU: Ruben Ostlund’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner The Square swept through the European Film Awards tonight in Berlin. The satirical art world drama was named Best European Film and European Comedy among its other wins. This marks the first year that the same film has won both categories since the comedy race was added in 2013. It also comes against a backdrop of serious issues facing Europe and the industry which were given a spotlight during the ceremony.

Related
Robin Campillo On France's Oscar Entry 'BPM' And Resolving 25 Years Of His Life

The Square also scored Best Actor for Claes Bang, and Ostlund scooped trophies for Best Director and Screenwriter. Added to the previously announced win for Josefin Åsberg’s Production Design, the Foreign Language Oscar entry from Sweden nabbed a total six prizes.

The European Film Academy has been predictive of the Foreign Language Oscar in recent years including for such winners as Ida, The Great Beauty and Amour. Last year’s Toni Erdmann similarly swept the EFAs, although the Oscar ultimately went to Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman which had been become a sort of symbol against Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban.

REX/Shutterstock
The 30th European Film Awards ceremony was never far from politics or the current scandals plaguing the industry. A call was made again for the release of Ukranian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov from a Russian prison; Wim Wenders spoke passionately about the need to defend Europe “against the simplifiers, oligarchs and enemies of freedom”; and Julie Delpy surmised her European Achievement in World Cinema prize was given in honor of “surviving for thirtysomething years after (starting out) as a young actress and keeping my integrity — you know what I mean.” She also launched a raffle to complete financing on her next picture after her gap financier bailed on the film three weeks before pre-production “for the wrong reason.” She said, “I had to hear that women are emotional. That’s probably the reason they ended up pulling out, because they were scared of an emotional female director.”

Back in the competitive races, when Ostlund accepted the prize for European Comedy, he referenced Toni Erdmann, noting, “We wanted to say something important, but we also wanted it to be entertaining and exciting. I think it’s part of a European approach, Toni Erdmann had a fun approach.” Earlier in the evening, Ostlund called on the audience to perform a “primal scream of happiness” much as he did at the Cannes ceremony last May, encouraging the tuxedoed audience to howl for the cameras. Magnolia released The Square domestically in late October.

Among other pictures taking prizes and hoping for a Foreign Language shortlist slot from Oscar at the end of next week include Hungary’s entry, On Body And Soul which scooped the lead actress prize for Alexandra Borbély. The love story set in a Budapest slaughterhouse begins streaming on Netflix February 21. Popular Oscar entries from France (BPM) and Russia (Loveless) had earlier taken EFAs in the Editing and Cinematography categories, respectively.

William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, which leads nominations for tomorrow night’s British Independent Film Awards, was named European Discovery 2017. Loving Vincent won in the Animated Feature category.

Regarding Sentsov, the European Film Academy has been very vocal on the issue and tonight Human Flow director Ai Weiwei added his voice to the cause: “His imprisonment is an absolute violation of freedom of speech and human rights.”

Wenders commented from the stage, “We have a responsibility beyond each of our national borders… Let’s be winners by responding to the challenges our society and profession are facing today. Long live our rich and free European cinema.”

Here’s the full list of winners from tonight:

EUROPEAN FILM
The Square, dir: Ruben Ostlund

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY – PRIX FIPRESCI
Lady Macbeth, dir: William Oldroyd

EUROPEAN COMEDY
The Square, dir: Ruben Ostlund

EUROPEAN ACTRESS
Alexandra Borbely, On Body And Soul

EUROPEAN ACTOR
Claes Bang, The Square

EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY
Communion, dir: Anna Zamecka

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR
Ruben Ostlund, The Square

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER
Ruben Ostlund, The Square

EUROPEAN ANIMATED FEATURE
Loving Vincent, dirs: Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman

EUROPEAN SHORT FILM
Timecode, dir: Juanjo Gimenez

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER
Michail Krichman, Loveless

EUROPEAN COMPOSER
Evgueni & Sacha Galperine, Loveless

EUROPEAN EDITOR
Robin Campillo, BPM

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Josefin Åsberg, The Square

EUROPEAN COSTUME DESIGNER
Katarzyna Lewińska, Spoor

EUROPEAN HAIR & MAKE-UP ARTIST
Leendert van Nimwegen, Brimstone

EUROPEAN SOUND DESIGNER
Oriol Tarragó, A Monster Calls

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD
Cedomir Kolar

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA
Julie Delpy

EFA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Aleksandr Sokurov

EFA PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Stefan Zweig – Farewell To Europe, dir: Maria Schrader