Recently the Deutsche Filmakademie (German Film Academy) announced the nominees for the Deutscher Filmpreis (German Film Awards) -better known as Lolas- and the visually stunning western Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley) by Andreas Prochaska plus starring none other than Sam Riley is this year's front-runner with nine nominations, including one for best picture.With six nominations another period drama Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Heimat: Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision), a black and white film directed by Edgar Reitz. The surprise is to find nominated for best picture the German box office #1 film, the comedy by Bora Dagtekin; seems the academy is warming to commercial movies. Sigh.
The awards ceremony will be on May 9 in Berlin's Tempodrom, will be hosted by Jan Josef Liefers and will be broadcast by ARD at 22:45 (not live).
These are the nominees for all the 16 categories
Best film
Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Heimat: Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision), Edgar Reitz
Fack ju Göhte (Suck Me Shakespeer aka F*ck You, Goethe), Bora Dagtekin
Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley), Andreas Prochaska
Finsterworld, Frauke Finsterwalder
Love Steaks, Jakob Lass
Zwei Leben (Two Lives), Georg Maas
Best children’s film
Bibi & Tina, Detlev Buck
Ostwind - Zusammen sind wir frei (Windstorm), Katja von Garnier
Mission: Sputnik (Sputnik), Markus Dietrich
Best documentary
Alphabet, Erwin Wagenhofer
Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery, Arne Birkenstock
Master of the Universe, Marc Bauder
Best director
Andreas Prochaska for Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley)
Edgar Reitz for Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Heimat: Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision)
Katrin Gebbe for Tore tanzt (Nothing Bad Can Happen)
Best actress
Juliane Köhler in Zwei Leben (Two Lives), Georg Maas
Carla Juri in Feuchtgebiete(Wetlands), David Wnendt
Jördis Triebel in Westen (aka Lagerfeuer) (West), Christian Schwochow
Best supporting actress
Jella Haase in Fack ju Göhte (Suck Me Shakespeer aka F*ck You, Goethe), Bora Dagtekin
Katja Riemann in Fack ju Göhte (Suck Me Shakespeer aka F*ck You, Goethe), Bora Dagtekin
Sandra Hüller in Finsterworld, Frauke Finsterwalder
Best actor
Sascha Alexander Gersak in Kurnaz - Fünf Jahre Leben (Five Years), Stefan Schaller
Dieter Hallervorden in Sein letztes Rennen, Kilian Riedhof
Hanno Koffler in Freier Fall (Free Fall), Stephan Lacant
Best supporting actor
Michael Maertens in Finsterworld, Frauke Finsterwalder
Tobias Moretti in Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley), Andreas Prochaska
Kida Khodr Ramadan in UMMAH - Unter Freunden (UMMAH - Among Friends), Cüneyt Kaya
Best screenplay
Bora Dagtekin for Fack ju Göhte (Suck Me Shakespeer aka F*ck You, Goethe)
Frauke Finsterwalder and Christian Kracht for Finsterworld
Edgar Reitz and Gert Heidenreich for Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Heimat: Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision)
Best cinematography
Gernot Roll for Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Heimat: Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision), Edgar Reitz
Thomas W. Kiennast for Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley), Andreas Prochaska
Michael Bertl for Mr. Morgan's Last Love, Sandra Nettelbeck
Hagen Bogdanski for The Physician, Philipp Stölzl
Daniel Gottschalk for Lauf Junge Lauf (Run Boy Run), Pepe Danquart
Best editing
Anne Fabini for Houston, Bastian Günther
Andreas Wodraschke for Feuchtgebiete (Wetlands)
Hansjörg Weißbrich for Zwei Leben (Two Lives)
Best set design
Claus Rudolf Amler for Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley)
Toni Gerg and Hucky Hornberger for Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Heimat: Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision)
Udo Kramer for The Physician
Matthias Müsse for Run Boy Run
Best costumes
Esther Amuser for Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht (Heimat: Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision)
Natascha Curtius-Noss for Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley)
Thomas Oláh for The Physician
Best makeup
Helene Lang and Roman Braunhofer for Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley)
Kitty Kratschke and Juliane Hübner for Run Boy Run
Heike Merker for The Physician
Best music
Annette Focks for Ostwind - Zusammen sind wir frei (Windstorm)
Johannes Lehniger and Peter Folk for Tore tanzt (Nothing Bad Can Happen)
Michaela Melián for Finsterworld
Matthias Weber for Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley)
Best sound
Guido Zettier, Max Thomas Meindl and Benjamin Rosenkind for The Physician
Dietmar Zuson, Christof Ebhardt and Tschangis Chahrokh for Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley)
Michael Kranz, Stefan Busch and Roland Winke for 3096 Tage
Most interesting is to find among the nominees movies in English and other than German languages, which tells us that German produced and/or with German people involved do qualify for the Lolas; but more important is that many around the world will not need subtitles. Have seen a few, had skipped a couple that now will give them a chance and definitively I'm looking forward to see a few that had skipped my radar and now are must be seen for me. Great.
To read the nominees at the official site go here, it is a pdf file.