The drama “Dear Thomas” by director Andreas Kleinert does well at this year’s German Film Awards. Albrecht Schuch was honored as the best leading actor. Meltem Kaptan wins Best Actress for her role in Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush.
The drama “Dear Thomas” won nine awards at the German Film Awards, including the Golden Lola for the best feature film. Director Andreas Kleinert tells the story of the life of the writer Thomas Brasch (1945-2001). The film received awards for direction and screenplay, among other things, as the German Film Academy announced in Berlin in the evening. Albrecht Schuch, who plays Thomas, was honored as the best leading actor. The 36-year-old won his third Lola after “Systemsprenger” and “Berlin Alexanderplatz”.
Two acting awards were also given for performances in the drama “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush”: Meltem Kaptan was honored for best leading actress and Alexander Scheer for best supporting male role. The film by Andreas Dresen also won a silver Lola, while the bronze award went to “Große Freiheit”. Actress Jella Haase was honored for her performance in “Dear Thomas” as best supporting actress.
The German Film Prize is considered the most important national award in the industry. The awards are associated with a total of around three million euros for new projects. The money comes from the house of Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth. The approximately 2,100 members of the German Film Academy voted on many of the award winners. A total of six productions were nominated for the best feature film – in addition to “Dear Thomas”, “Rabiye Kurnaz against George W. Bush” and “Great Freedom”, the comedy “Contra”, the episodic film “Beautiful” and the drama “Spencer” were nominated.
Cameraman Jürgen Jürges received an honorary award for outstanding services to German film. He has worked with directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder (“Fear Eats Soul”), Michael Haneke (“Funny Games”) and Uli Edel (“Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo”). The children’s film “The School of Magical Animals” was awarded as the most popular film. Best documentary film was “The Other Side of the River”, best children’s film “The Path”.
The Bernd Eichinger Prize went to Maren Ade, Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach from the Berlin production company Komplizen Film. Around 1700 people were invited to the award ceremony at the Berlin exhibition center. During the evening, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine was recalled several times. Wladimir Klitschko sent a video message. Minister of State for Culture Roth also recalled the war. The evening was moderated by Katrin Bauerfeind.
