German Film Award: Nine Lolas for “Dear Thomas”

Status: 06/24/2022 10:05 p.m

“I want to stay where I’ve never been”: director Andreas Kleinert talks about the life of writer Thomas Brasch. His drama won several awards at the German Film Awards.

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 about the life of the writer Thomas Brasch (1945-2001). The film received awards for direction and screenplay, among other things.

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”. Actress Jella Haase was honored for her performance in “Dear Thomas” as best supporting actress.

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”.

Roth: The war changes everything

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 war changes everything, even an evening like this,” said Roth at the ceremony. The film should still be celebrated. “We need the power of film,” emphasized Roth. This is not needed to distract, but to counteract the misery. She wanted to thank the filmmakers present for “giving democracy the pictures,” said the Greens politician.

Klitschko sends a video message

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 recognized 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. The evening was moderated by Katrin Bauerfeind.

source site