The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the

German film industry The film industry in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema made major technical and artistic contributions to early film, broadcasting and television technology. Babelsberg Studio, Babelsberg became a household synon ...

. Besides being the most important

film award Film award is a cinematic award which can be awarded in several categories. Unlike the film festival, the film award is not accompanied by a public screening of competitive films. Film awards are usually awarded based on the results of a secret vot ...

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. 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 Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

History

The award was created in 1951 by the

Federal Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

and was first given out during the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. A practice that was kept for the upcoming decades. Since 1999 it is commissioned by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F081356-0017, Deutscher Filmpreis

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F081356-0017, Deutscher Filmpreis

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. 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 West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. 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 The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

or the Césars. In 1995 for the first time, winners were announced during a glamorous telecast in

Friedrichstadt-Palast The Friedrichstadt-Palast, also shortened to Palast Berlin, is a revue in the Berlin district of Mitte (district center). The term Friedrichstadt-Palast designates both the building itself, and the revue theater as a body with his ensemble. The p ...

, one of the most prestigious venues of former

East-Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 un ...

. In the following years, other locations were chosen that were symbolic for the once divided city such as the Berlin Tempelhof Airport or the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One ...

. Since 1999, the various category winners are awarded a statuette, the LOLA. The name refers to

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

's role in '' Der blaue Engel'',

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's main ...

's film ''

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...

'' and

Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The St ...

'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." From 1999 to 2002 the show was televised by a private broadcaster

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

. Since 2003 it has rotated each year between the two major German public broadcasters ARD and

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

. Before the founding of the German Film Academy (Deutsche Filmakademie) in 2005 a single prize was awarded for the technical categories of

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

, production design,

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

and musical score in the category "Outstanding Singular Achievement".

Selection process

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 A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

which was constituted according to the principle of political proportionality, and on which politicians and

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

men 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: # Registration and pre-selection # Nomination # 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.

Ceremonies

Trivia

Films that received six or more German Film Awards

"Big Five" winners and nominees

Winners

*''

Toni Erdmann Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegia ...

'' (2016) #Best Film: ''Toni Erdmann'' #Best Director:

Maren Ade Maren Ade (; born 12 December 1976) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer. Ade lives in Berlin, teaching screenwriting at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. Together with Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach, she ...

#Best Actor:

Peter Simonischek Peter Simonischek (born 6 August 1946) is an Austrian people, Austrian actor. He is a celebrated stage performer and has been a regular ensemble member of the Burgtheater since 1999. He often appears at the Salzburg Festival and has played the ti ...

#Best Actress:

Sandra Hüller Sandra Hüller (; born 30 April 1978) is a German actress. She gained critical praise for her portrait of Anneliese Michel in Hans-Christian Schmid's drama ''Requiem'' (2006), and is best known internationally for her starring role in Maren Ad ...

#Best Writing: Maren Ade *''

System Crasher ''System Crasher'' (german: Systemsprenger) is a 2019 German drama film directed by Nora Fingscheidt. Plot The nine-year-old Bernadette, known as “Benni”, is considered aggressive and wayward. If anyone but her mother touches her face, she l ...

'' (2020) #Best Film: ''System Crasher'' #Best Director:

Nora Fingscheidt Nora Fingscheidt ( ) is a German director and screenwriter. She has been a participant of the film festival since 2011 for her short films, winning the prize in 2017 for ''Without This World'' (''Ohne diese Welt''). She became widely known for ...

#Best Actor:

Albrecht Schuch Albrecht Abraham Schuch (born 21 August 1985) is a German actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including three German Film Awards, a Bavarian Film Award, and a German Television Award. He has been nominated for a British Academy Fi ...

#Best Actress:

Helena Zengel Helena Zengel (; born June 10, 2008) is a German actress. She is best known for her roles in the films '' System Crasher'' (2019) and '' News of the World'' (2020). Early life Zengel was born and raised in Berlin, Germany, and began her actin ...

#Best Writing: Nora Fingscheidt

Nominees

Four awards won *''

Good Bye Lenin ''Good Bye Lenin!'' is a 2003 German Tragicomedy, tragicomedy film, directed by Wolfgang Becker (director, born 1954), Wolfgang Becker. The cast includes Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, and Maria Simon (actress), Maria Simon. The s ...

'' (2002): Best Actress (

Katrin Saß Katrin Sass (, for a time Katrin Saß) is a German actress. She became known internationally for playing the idealistic socialist mother Christiane Kerner in the 2003 tragicomedy ''Good Bye, Lenin!'' Biography She was born in Schwerin, in th ...

) *'' Go for Zucker!'' (2004): Best Actress (

Hannelore Elsner Hannelore Elsner (; born Hannelore Elstner; 26 July 1942 – 21 April 2019) was a German actress with a long career in television and film. She first performed on stage in Munich, and later starred in popular films and television series such as ' ...

) *''

The White Ribbon ''The White Ribbon'' (german: Das weiße Band) is a 2009 German-language drama film, written and directed by Michael Haneke. Released in black-and-white, the film offers a dark depiction of society and family in a northern German village just be ...

'' (2009): Best Actress (

Susanne Lothar Susanne Lothar (15 November 1960 – 21 July 2012) was a German film, television and stage actress. Early life and education Susanne Lothar was born on 15 November 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. She was the daughter of actors Hanns Lothar and Ingrid ...

) Three awards won *'' Stopped on Track'' (2011): Best Actress (

Steffi Kühnert Steffi Kühnert (born 19 February 1963) is a German actress. She appeared in more than eighty films since 1978. Since November 2009, she has been a professor of acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art, where she was previously a guest l ...

) and Writing (

Andreas Dresen Andreas Dresen (born 16 August 1963) is a German film director. His directing credits include '' Cloud 9'', '' Summer in Berlin'', ''Grill Point'' and ''Night Shapes''. His film '' Stopped on Track'' premiered at the Un Certain Regard section at ...

and Cooky Ziesche)

Actors with two or more competitive awards

Notes

References

External links

* *
deutsche-filmakademie.de
Database of recipients 1951 – today *
Promotion of German Film and Cinema by the German Federal Government
*

List of Lola categories and associated monetary awards {{Authority control Awards established in 1951