When the lights go down for the 22nd European Film Awards Ceremony on 12 December, the 1,400 guests will be welcomed by German comedy star ANKE ENGELKE, the host of the evening. The charming and multi-talented comedienne is known in the international film world for hosting the opening of the Berlin International Film Festival for several years where she magically balanced her act between entertaining the crowd and taming the stars onstage.

Joining her on stage at Bochum’s legendary Jahrhunderthalle (Century Hall), a former gas power station of the steel mills, will be BAUHOUSE, pioneers of audiovisual composition, with an audio video performance mixing video, film and music.

Among the evening’s distinguished film guests arriving at the red carpet in limousines will be British director Ken Loach, recipient of the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, and French actress Isabelle Huppert who will receive the award EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2009.

Also expected are the nominees in the various different categories including directors Pedro Almodóvar (Spain), Andrea Arnold (UK), Jacques Audiard (France), Danny Boyle (UK), Michael Haneke (Austria) and Lars von Trier (Denmark); German actor Moritz Bleibtreu and his colleagues Steve Evets (UK), David Kross (Germany), Dev Patel (UK), Tahar Rahim (France) and Filippo Timi (Italy) and their female counterparts actresses Penelope Cruz (Spain), Charlotte Gainsbourg (France), Katie Jarvis (UK), Yolande Moreau (France), Noomi Rapace (Sweden) and Kate Winslet (UK); and many more…