Films vie for Europe ‘Oscars’

A German film that sparked a scandal over its star’s porn movie past and a Spanish yarn of gay friends traumatized by childhood sexual abuse head the field in Saturday’s European Film Awards competition.

“Head-On,” about the struggles of a badly mismatched couple of Turkish origin in Germany, and “Bad Education,” directed by Spain’s flamboyant veteran Pedro Almodovar (and reviewed on Page E6), have seven nominations each in the awards dubbed the “European Oscars.”

A total of 44 films are in the running for the 17th annual awards, to be presented in Barcelona by the European Film Academy, made up of 1,600 film industry professionals.