Paolo Sorrentino's "Youth" has topped the European Film Awards.

The Fox Searchlight film took home the best Picture award and defeated films "Victoria," "A Pigeon sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" and "The Lobster."

The film also took home the award for Best actor for Michael Caine as well as the Best Director award for Sorrentino. The win for Caine is important as the actor had been losing steam in the Oscar race after being snubbed at the SAG awards and the Golden Globes. A win here means more exposure for the actor from the Academy.

Meanwhile Charlotte Rampling went home with the Best Actress award for her award-winning performance in "45 Years." Rampling has been campaigning throughout the season but has been snubbed by the Golden Globes and SAG awards; she is hoping to get her first Oscar nomination for the Andrew Haigh film.

The Best Screenplay award went to "The Lobster" for Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou.

The European Awards are an important precursor because the majority of the winners have been Oscar contenders, and some went on to win Academy Awards. Last year "Ida" won the European Film Award before going to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Similarly Marion Cotillard went on to win the EFA for Best Actress before surprising at the Oscar nominations. "The Great Beauty" also won the EFA for Best Picture before winning the foreign film award at the Oscars as well as "Amour" and "The Lives of Others."

However, not every year do awards correlate with the Oscars. For example both "Melancholia" and "The Ghost Writer" won the Best Picture at the EFA but were both shut out of the Oscars. Similarly "Gommorah" and "4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days" were submitted by their countries, but both did not get nominated.

"Youth" is currently an Oscar contender and could definitely get nominations. However, with lackluster reviews and box office the film could end up being snubbed. The fate of the film will ultimately rely on how much buzz "Youth" could maintain throughout the next month.

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