by Andreas Kleinert Dear Thomas emerged top of this year’s German film awards, known as the Lolas, with 12 nominations.
East German poet, playwright and filmmaker Thomas Brasch’s black-and-white biopic is nominated for best feature, as well as for direction, screenplay, lead actor, cinematography and production design.
Berlinale competition title by Andreas Dresen Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush is not far behind Dear Thomas with 10 nominations, the same number as his Gunderman attracted in 2019.
by Austrian director Sebastian Meise great freedomwho won the jury prize at Cannes in Un Certain Regard last year, picked up eight nominations to add to the 10 nominations he received for this year’s Austrian Film Awards last week.
All three films – all of which are handled internationally by The Match Factory – are up for Best Picture with Sönke Wortmann’s Contraby Karoline Herfurth Wunderschönand Pablo Larrain spencer.
Each of the six productions nominated in the Best Feature Film category received €250,000 from the State Ministry for Culture and Media (BKM) to be invested by the producers in a future film project.
Meanwhile, the three documentaries nominated in the Best Documentary category – The other side of the river, We are all Detroitand Wem Gehört Mein Dorf? – each received €100,000.
by Tobias Wiemann The path and Gregor Schnitzler School of Magical Animals – both managed internationally by Global Screen – each pocketed €125,000 after being selected in the Best Children’s Film category.
A total of €2.05 million was paid to the nominees in the three categories.
Announcing the nominations at an event broadcast live from Berlin, Minister of State for Culture and Media Claudia Roth revealed that veteran cinematographer Jürgen Jürges will be the recipient of this year’s Honorary Lola for his services to German cinema. Jürges’ credits include films as diverse as Rainer Werner Fassbinder Angst Essen Seele Aufby Uli Edel Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof ZooMichael Haneke funny games and Ilya Krzhanovsky Dau.
Meanwhile, the Lola for the most commercially successful film of the year will go to School of Magical Animals.
The final winners of the Lolls will now be chosen by the more than 2,100 members of the German Film Academy. The award ceremony takes place in Berlin on June 24.
