Andreas Kleinert’s Dear Thomas has swept the German Film Awards with nine wins including best film, director and actor Albrecht Schuch.
The awards, known as the Lolas, were handed out during a gala ceremony attended by 1,700 guests at Berlin’s Palais am Funkturm on Friday (June 24).
Dear Thomas, a black-and-white historical biopic of East German author and filmmaker Thomas Brasch, picked up the Golden Lola for best film and won further awards for best director, screenplay, actor, production design, costume design, supporting actress, cinematography and editing.
The film premiered at Filmfest München in July 2021 and went on to win the Grand Prix at Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival. Produced by Michael Souvignier and Till Derenbach’s Zeitsprung Pictures, sales are handled by The Match Factory.
Andreas Dresen’s Berlinale 2022 competition title Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush won the runner-up Silver Lola for best film and awards for leading actress Meltem Kaptan and supporting actor Alexander Scheer. Kaptan previously won the best actress prize at the Berlinale for her portrayal of a mother who campaigns for the release of her son from Guantanamo.
The Bronze Lola for best film went to Austrian director Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom, having previously won the Prix du Jury in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2021. The film, about a man repeatedly imprisoned for his homosexuality, also picked up the Lola for best make-up. It has received 10 nominations at the Austrian Film Awards, which take place on Thursday (June 30).
The Lola for best documentary went to Antonia Kilian’s The Other Side Of The River and Tobias Wiemann’s The Path triumphed in the best children’s film category, while Gregor Schnitzler’s School Of Magical Animals received the Lolas for best visual effects and the most commercially successful German film released in 2021 with 1.7 million admissions.
The awards ceremony also saw the Honorary Lola for services to German cinema awarded to veteran cinematographer Jürgen Jürges whose extensive career has including work with filmmakers Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Uli Edel, Michael Haneke and Ilya Krzhanovsky.
The Bernd Eichinger Prize, which honours excellence in film producing, went to the Berlin-based Komplizen Film, whose production of Pablo Larraín’s Spencer was nominated for best film and cinematography.
Komplizen Film is the German co-producer of Marie Kreutzer’s costume drama Corsage, which opened Filmfest München on Thursday (June 23) following its premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last month.
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