German Film Award

The German Film Award (German: Deutscher Filmpreis), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important film award in Germany, it is also the most highly endowed German cultural award, with cash prizes in its current 20 categories totalling nearly three million euros.

German Film Award
Awarded forBest in cinema
CountryGermany
Presented byDeutsche Filmakademie
First awarded1951
Websitedeutscher-filmpreis.de

From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, but since 2005 the award has been organized by the German Film Academy (Deutsche Filmakademie). The Federal Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs has been responsible for the administration of the prize since 1999. The awards ceremony is traditionally held in Berlin.

History

The award was created in 1951 by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and was first given out during the Berlin Film Festival. A practice that was kept for the upcoming decades. Since 1999 it is commissioned by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

The trophy from 1951 until 1998

In the first years the awards had numerous trophies that were handed out for different categories. Aside from the main categories for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay most others from the inaugural edition have been short lived such as Film that promote democratic values due to the constant change of the awards constitution in the early years.[1] As a rule stated that awards would only be awarded for outstanding achievements, not every category had a winner each year. Over time, the award in the shape of a film tape became the most common trophy, either in gold or silver. The Golden Bowl became the highest honour for Best Picture, however due to not being handed out for more than 17 years, the award was abolished in 1996.

Due to the confusing mechanism as well as changing categories, the award lost its relevance. With only a press conference and no televised broadcast, it did not attract the public's interest in West Germany. Since the reunification of Germany in 1990, constants efforts have been made to underline the award's significance as a national correlation to similar awards honours such as the Academy Awards or the Césars. In 1995 for the first time, winners were announced during a glamorous telecast in Friedrichstadt-Palast, one of the most prestigious venues of former East-Berlin.[2] In the following years, other locations were chosen that were symbolic for the once divided city such as the Berlin Tempelhof Airport[3] or the Brandenburg Gate.[4]

Since 1999, the various category winners are awarded a statuette, the LOLA. The name refers to Marlene Dietrich's role in Der blaue Engel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film Lola and Tom Tykwer's very successful movie Lola rennt.

Mechthild Schmidt, Partner of HouseWorks digital media, New York about her 1999 design: "I wanted to symbolize motion. Film IS movement. I wanted the statue to express confidence without being stern, strength without being static. It was important to me to give the "Deutschen Filmpreis" its own identity, not trying to borrow what other awards already successfully symbolize. While the Oscar is the strong, firm standing fighter and winner, I wanted the Filmprize statue to symbolize the dynamics of movement, the muse, the inspiration necessary to make a work of art, to become a winner. The movement is carried through to the asymmetrical conical base. Stylistically, I was looking for a timeless modern design as well as a historical reference to the first golden era of German film, the Art Deco in the 1920s."[5]

From 1999 to 2002 the show was televised by a private broadcaster ProSieben.[6] Since 2003 it has rotated each year between the two major German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.

Before the founding of the German Film Academy (Deutsche Filmakademie) in 2005 a single prize was awarded for the technical categories of cinematography, film editing, production design, art direction and musical score in the category "Outstanding Singular Achievement".

Selection process

The Lola Award on the right as it is given out since 1999

Borrowing from the American model, the awards have been made by an academy, the Deutsche Filmakademie, since 2005. The academy replaces a much-criticised jury which was constituted according to the principle of political proportionality, and on which politicians and clergymen also sat. Now the jury consists of the members of the German Film Academy, which makes them a well specialised jury.

The selection process has three main steps:

  1. Registration and pre-selection
  2. Nomination
  3. Election of the award winners

Nominations are decided by a pre-determined jury from each branch. Except for the film categories, usually three nominees are announced. More nominees are allowed in case of a tie. The nominations for the film categories are endowed with 100.000 Euro (Documentary), 125.000 Euro (Best Children's Film) and 250.000 Euro (Feature Film). Winners in each individual categories get 10.000 Euro, whereas the main winner in the Film category gets 500.000 Euro (including the nomination reward). The Best Film category features six nominees with the three most voted winning a bronze, silver and gold award respectively.

Categories

Merit awards

  • Best Fiction Film
  • Best Documentary Film
  • Best Children's Film
  • Best Director
  • Best Screenplay
  • Best Actress
  • Best Actor
  • Best Supporting Actress
  • Best Supporting Actor
  • Best Cinematography
  • Best Editing
  • Best Costume Design
  • Best Production Design
  • Best Sound Editing
  • Best Score
  • Best Make-Up
  • Best Visual Effects and Animation

Special awards

  • Honorary Award for Outstanding Contributions to German Cinema
  • Bernd Eichinger Memorial Award
  • Audience Award for the highest grossing Film of the Year

Retired awards

  • Best Foreign Film
  • Audience Award for Best Picture and Actor/Actress

Ceremonies

Edition Date Host(s) Venue Best Film
1st 6 June 1951 Alfred Bauer Titania Palast Two Times Lotte
2nd 23 April 1952 unknown The Guilt of Doctor Homma
3rd 1953 Ufa Palast Nights on the Road
4th 17 June 1954 No Way Back
5th 24 June 1955 Canaris: Master Spy
6th 22 June 1956
7th 23 June 1957 The Captain from Köpenick
8th 29 June 1958 The Devil Strikes at Night
9th 28 June 1959 Arms and the Man
10th 22 June 1960 The Bridge
11th 25 June 1961 Kongresshalle Berlin
12th 24 June 1962 The Bread of Those Early Years
13th 23 June 1963 Die endlose Nacht and The Lightship
14th 28 June 1964 The River Line
15th 27 June 1965 The House in Karp Lane
16th 26 June 1966 Young Törless
17th 25 June 1967 Walther Schmieding Yesterday Girl
18th 23 June 1968 Tattoo
19th 29 June 1969 Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed
20th 28 June 1970 Hans Christoph Knebusch and Walther Schmieding Katzelmacher and Malatesta
21st 27 June 1971 First Love and Lenz
22nd 24 June 1972 Trotta and Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King
23rd 24 June 1973 The Experts
24th 22 June 1974 The Pedestrian
25th 27 June 1975 Lina Braake
26th 25 June 1976 Calm Prevails Over the Country
27th 24 June 1977 Heinrich
28th 30 June 1978 unknown The Glass Cell
29th 8 June 1979 The Tin Drum
30th 13 June 1980 The Last Years of Childhood
31st 26 June 1981 A Lot of Bills to Pay
32nd 26 June 1982 Marianne and Juliane
33rd 25 June 1983 The State of Things
34th 23 June 1984 Where the Green Ants Dream
35th 15 June 1985 Colonel Redl
36th 7 June 1986 Theater des Westens Rosa Luxemburg
37th 13 June 1987
38th 10 June 1988 Wings of Desire
39th 2 June 1989 Yasemin
40th 7 June 1990 Last Exit to Brooklyn
41st 6 June 1991 Leo Koschnik Malina
42nd 4 June 1992 Schtonk!
43rd 3 June 1993 Ilja Richter
44th 9 June 1994 Kaspar Hauser
45th 9 June 1995 Iris Berben Friedrichstadt-Palast Maybe... Maybe Not
46th 31 May 1996 Joachim Król and Veronica Ferres Deutsche Oper Berlin Deathmaker
47th 6 June 1997 Sabine Christiansen Berlin Tempelhof Airport Rossini
48th 6 June 1998 Joachim Fuchsberger Brandenburg Gate The Harmonists
49th 17 June 1999 Piet Klocke and Katarina Witt Deutsche Oper Berlin Run Lola Run
50th 16 June 2000 Götz Alsmann and Susann Atwell No Place to Go
51st 22 June 2001 The State I Am In
52nd 14 June 2002 Caroline Beil and Dirk Bach Tempodrom Nowhere in Africa
53rd 6 June 2003 Jörg Pilawa Good Bye, Lenin!
54th 18 June 2004 Jessica Schwarz and Ulrich Wickert Head-On
55th 5 June 2005 Michael "Bully" Herbig Berliner Philharmonie Go for Zucker!
56th 12 May 2006 Palais am Funkturm The Lives of Others
57th 4 May 2007 Four Minutes
58th 25 April 2008 Barbara Schöneberger The Edge of Heaven
59th 24 April 2009 John Rabe
60th 23 April 2010 Friedrichstadt-Palast The White Ribbon
61st 8 April 2011 Vincent Wants to Sea
62nd 27 April 2012 Elyas M'Barek and Jessica Schwarz Stopped on Track
63rd 26 April 2013 Mirjam Weichselbraun Tempodrom A Coffee in Berlin
64th 9 May 2014 Jan Josef Liefers Palais am Funkturm Home from Home
65th 19 June 2015 Victoria
66th 27 May 2016 The People vs. Fritz Bauer
67th 28 April 2017 Jasmin Tabatabai Toni Erdmann
68th 27 April 2018 Edin Hasanović and Iris Berben 3 Days in Quiberon
69th 3 May 2019 Désirée Nosbusch and Teddy Teclebrhan Gundermann
70th 24 April 2020 Edin Hasanović System Crasher
71th 1 October 2021 Daniel Donskoy I'm Your Man
72nd 24 June 2022 Katrin Bauerfeind Dear Thomas
73rd 12 May 2023 Jasmin Shakeri Theater am Potsdamer Platz The Teacher's Lounge

Trivia

Films that received six or more German Film Awards

FilmYearNoms.Wins
All Quiet on the Western Front2023128
The White Ribbon20101310
The Devil Strikes at Night195810
Good Bye Lenin!2003[lower-alpha 1]109[lower-alpha 2]
System Crasher2020108
The Dark Valley201598
The Lives of Others2006117
3 Days in Quiberon2018107
Run Lola Run199967[lower-alpha 3]
Go for Zucker!2005106
Gundermann2019106
The People vs. Fritz Bauer201696
A Coffee in Berlin201386
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer200786
Victoria201576
Anonymous201276
Toni Erdmann201766
The Wrong Move19756
The Bread of Those Early Years19626
The Captain from Köpenick19576

Winners

  1. Best Film: Toni Erdmann
  2. Best Director: Maren Ade
  3. Best Actor: Peter Simonischek
  4. Best Actress: Sandra Hüller
  5. Best Writing: Maren Ade
  1. Best Film: System Crasher
  2. Best Director: Nora Fingscheidt
  3. Best Actor: Albrecht Schuch
  4. Best Actress: Helena Zengel
  5. Best Writing: Nora Fingscheidt

Nominees[lower-alpha 4]

Four awards won

Three awards won

Actors with two or more competitive awards

ActorAwards wonLeadingSupportingOthers
Götz George4301[lower-alpha 6]
Albrecht Schuch422
Irm Hermann3111 [lower-alpha 7]
Sandra Hüller321
Eva Mattes3021[lower-alpha 8]
Katja Riemann321
Hanna Schygulla3201 [lower-alpha 9]
Barbara Sukowa330
Mario Adorf2101[lower-alpha 10]
Moritz Bleibtreu211
Klaus Maria Brandauer220
Daniel Brühl220
Edith Clever220
Justus von Dohnányi202
Hannelore Elsner220
O.W. Fischer220
Martina Gedeck211
Walter Giller211
Michael Gwisdek211
Fritzi Haberlandt202
Sibel Kekilli220
Peter Kern2101 [lower-alpha 11]
Nastassja Kinski2101 [lower-alpha 12]
Burghart Klaußner211
Joachim Król220
Frederick Lau211
Hanns Lothar202
Hannes Messemer211
Uwe Ochsenknecht220
Gerhard Olschewski220
Lena Stolze220
Lilli Palmer220
Sophie Rois211
Heinz Rühmann220
Christine Schorn202
Maria Schrader220
Sigfrit Steiner211
Laura Tonke211
Ulrich Tukur211

See also

Notes

  1. the award for best unproduced screenplay was given out in 2002
  2. tincluding one Audience Award and an award for unproduced screenplay
  3. tincluding an audience award
  4. only after the inclusion of nominations in screenplay in 2005 are considered
  5. the screenplay award was won year before
  6. Best Young Actor 1960
  7. Best Ensemble 1970
  8. Best Young Actress 1971
  9. Best Ensemble 1970
  10. Best Young Actor 1958
  11. Best Ensemble 1975
  12. Best Ensemble 1975

References

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