POLISH director Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Ida,” a drama about a young novitiate nun who discovers her parents were Jewish and perished in the Holocaust, dominated the European Film Awards on Saturday, winning five prizes, including best film, best director and people’s choice.

    “Ida” also won the Special Presentations award at the 2013 Toronto film festival. It has been nominated for best foreign language film at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards and for the foreign-language Academy Award.

    Pawlikowski is best known for the British films “Last Resort” and “My Summer of Love,” both of which won BAFTAs.

    “It was fantastic night for us and also it has been a great year for Poland. We won in volleyball, we beat Germany in football, first time in 80 years, and tonight — crowning glory,” Pawlikowski said as he received the award for the best film.

    The annual awards, held this year in the Latvian capital of Riga, also honored British director Steve McQueen, who got an award for European achievement in world cinema. With only three feature films — “Hunger,” “Shame” and the most recent “12 Years a Slave,” which won an Oscar earlier this year as best picture, McQueen has become legendary, said director Wim Wenders, who presented the award.

    The French film director Agnès Varda was given a lifetime achievement award.

    The awards were voted on by more than 3,000 members of the European Film Academy.(SD-Agencies)