Austrian director Michael Haneke's “The White Ribbon”, a chilling exploration of the roots of Nazi terror, dominated the European Film Awards Saturday, winning three prizes including best film. In the black-and-white film, a sinister series of crimes rocks a village in northern Germany on the eve of World War One, and appears linked to a group of children brutalized and scarred by their parents. The 2,000-member European Film Academy awarded Haneke the best film, best director and best screenwriter prizes at the 22nd anniversary ceremony in Bochum, in the industrial Ruhr area of western Germany. British actress Kate Winslet scooped up another award for her portrayal of a German woman with a secret Nazi past in the romantic drama “The Reader,” winning best actress. Newcomer Tahar Rahim won best actor for portraying a homeless and illiterate 19-year-old at the mercy of a Corsican gang that controls the jail where he is imprisoned, in Jacques Audiard's French film “A Prophet.” The Oscar-garlanded “Slumdog Millionaire”, an against-all-odds love story set in the teeming slums of Mumbai, scooped up the “People's Choice” award, decided by cinema-goers throughout Europe who vote online or at cinemas. Last year's awards were held in Copenhagen, where the Italian mafia drama “Gomorra” won five prizes including best film, best director and best actor.
