European Young Audience Award 2027 Nominations Announced at Glasgow’s Grosvenor Picture Theatre

As awards season gets started on the other side of the Atlantic, the European Film Awards are also underway: the three nominees for European Young Audience Award 2027 were announced on Sunday 1st November at Grosvenor Picture Theatre in partnership with the International Film Festival Glasgow (IFFG). Selected by teenagers aged 12–19 from around Europe, three films each year compete for the award.

This year, the first nominee is Hold Onto Me by Myrsini Aristidou. This Cyprus-Denmark-Greece co-production is accompanied by a short message from the director and a trailer. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic. It’s also Cyprus’s first-ever entry for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. It follows the changing father-daughter relationship between 11-year-old Iris and her estranged father, Aris, as the latter returns to attend his own father’s funeral.

The second nominee is Iron Boy (French: Le Corset) by Louis Clichy. This French-Belgian animation premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It also won the Jury Prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was selected for the Spotlight Gala section of the 2026 New York Film Festival. It follows 11-year-old Christophe who struggles to live up to his father’s expectations while their family farm is struggling. At the same time he’s fighting with his own body, requiring the support of an iron corset, and finds salvation through music and friendship.

The final nominee, which was screened immediately after the nomination announcement, is I Matter by Alina Șerban (Romania, Germany, and Belgium). Șerban was with us in the audience, and introduced the film while joking about her journey to get there and speak to us. I

Matter is her feature debut, loosely inspired by her own life. It premiered in the Venice Spotlight section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the section’s Audience Award. It follows young Roma teenager Rebeca who attempts to establish a new life while struggling with the orphanage system, her imprisoned father, and the invisible discrimination and shame associated with being who she is. The film is a study not only of the struggles of adulthood but also of the social institutions surrounding it, which can be life-endangering.

Teenagers aged 12 and above across Europe can vote and choose the winner, which will be announced at the European Film Awards 2027 in Athens on 16th January 2027