Tom Tykwer's lavish adaptation of Patrick Suskind's Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer and Chris Kraus's prison drama Four Minutes are running neck and neck with eight nominations apiece for the German Film Awards - the Golden and Silver Lolas - which will be presented in a gala ceremony in Berlin on May 4.

German Film Academy president Senta Berger and State Minister for Culture and Media Bernd Neumann announced this year's nominations during ZDF's breakfast news programme Morgenmagazin on Friday morning.

Tykwer and Kraus's films both picked up nominations for Best Film and Best Direction, with Perfume not surprisingly attracting nods in every technical category from production design and costume design through editing and sound to cinematography and music.

Similarly, Kraus's two female leads Monica Bleibtreu and Hannah Herzsprung will be popular choices for the nominations in the Best Actress category (Herzsprung already won the Bavarian Film Prize in January for her performance as the killer with a musical talent), and Stefan Ruzowitzky's Berlinale competition The Counterfeiters amassed seven nominations, including for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

Thanks to the largesse of Neumann's ministry, nomination premiums amounting to $2.6 million (Euros 1.95m) were awarded today to be invested in future projects. The six films nominated for Best Film each received $333,000 (Euros 250,000), the two films nominated in the Best Children's and Youth Film category received $166,000 (Euros 125,000) and the two documentaries received $133,000 (Euros 100,000) each. A further $1.19m (Euros 895,000) will be distributed among the final Lola winners at the awards ceremony in May.

The complete list of nominations is as follows:

Best Feature Film

Emma's Bliss (dir: Sven Taddicken)

The Counterfeiters (dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky)

Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer (dir: Tom Tykwer)

Four Minutes (dir: Chris Kraus)

Grave Decisions (dir: Marcus H. Rosenmueller)

Winter Journey (dir: Hans Steinbichler)

Best Documentary

The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez (dir: Heidi Specogna)

Working Man's Death (dir: Michael Glawogger)

Best Children's and Youth Film

Hände Weg Vom Mississippi (dir: Detlev Buck)

The Cloud (dir: Gregor Schnitzler)

Best Direction

Matthias Glasner (The Free Will)

Chris Kraus (Four Minutes)

Marcus H. Rosenmueller (Grave Decisions)

Tom Tykwer (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer)

Best Screenplay

Chris Kraus (Four Minutes)

Christian Lerch, Marcus H. Rosenmueller (Grave Decisions)

Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters)

Best Actor

Josef Bierbichler (Winter Journey)

Karl Markovics (The Counterfeiters)

Juergen Vogel (The Free Will)

Best Actress

Monica Bleibtreu (Four Minutes)

Hannah Herzsprung (Four Minutes)

Joerdis Triebel (Emma's Bliss)

Best Supporting Actress

Barbara Auer (Der Liebeswunsch)

Hannah Herzsprung (Das Wahre Leben)

Sabine Timoteo (A Friend Of Mine)

Best Supporting Actor

Sylvester Groth (Mein Fuehrer)

Hinnerk Schoenemann (Emma's Bliss)

Devid Striesow (The Counterfeiters)

Best Production Design

Uli Hanisch (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer)

Lothar Holler (Haende Weg von Mississippi)

Isidor Wimmer (The Counterfeiters)

Best Cinematography

Frank Griebe (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer)

Judith Kaufmann (Four Minutes)

Benedict Neuenfels (The Counterfeiters)

Best Costume Design

Natascha Curtius-Noss (Heavy Weights)

Nicole Fischnaller (The Counterfeiters)

Pierre-Yves Gayraud (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer)

Best Music

Gerd Baumann (Grave Decisions)

Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer) Christian Heyne (I Am The Other One)

Best Editing

Alexander Berner (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer)

Susanne Hartmann, Anja Pohl (Grave Decisions)

Uta Schmidt (Four Minutes)

Hans-Joerg Weissbrich (Der Liebeswunsch)

Best Sound

Emma's Bliss

Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer

Four Minutes

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