The cinemas were closed for months – and the German Film Prize will be awarded a few months late due to the pandemic. Tonight is the day. Who has chances?
Berlin – After a year and a half with the corona virus, the German Film Prize will be awarded again in front of a large audience for the first time.
The winners will be announced this evening. Around 1200 people are invited to the award ceremony in Berlin – all of them have to be tested for the virus in advance. With ten nominations, the literary film adaptation “Fabian or The Walk to the Dogs” entered the race as one of the favorites.
Director Dominik Graf’s film is based on a novel by Erich Kästner (1899-1974). The book, which was first published in 1931, is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. In the film adaptation, Tom Schilling plays the unemployed protagonist who falls in love with a budding actress (Saskia Rosendahl). The film has been nominated for best director and best screenplay, among other things.
It has also been proposed as the best feature film – a total of six films are competing for the Golden Lola. In addition to “Fabian”, this also includes the book adaptation “Schachnovelle”, the comedy “Ich bin dein Mensch” about love for a robot, the secret service satire “Curveball – We make the truth” and the political dramas “And tomorrow the whole world” and “Je suis Karl”.
Three million euros in prize money
The German Film Prize is 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 Monika Grütters (CDU). Last year the drama “Systemsprenger” won the Golden Lola.
Because of the pandemic, there was no big award at the time. Instead, the winning films were announced on a television show – with video switches in some homes. The more than 2000 members of the German Film Academy decide on many of the award winners. The award ceremony begins at 5.30 p.m. and will be shown on ZDF from 11 p.m. onwards.
Because of the pandemic, the cinemas were closed for months and many film releases were delayed. This time, the film prize will not be awarded in spring, as usual, but with a delay of a few months in autumn. For some awards, it is already clear who will receive them. Actress Senta Berger, for example, is honored for special services to German film.
For the celebration at the Berlin exhibition center, rules for dealing with the corona virus continue to apply. Vaccinated and convalescent patients also need a quick test, others a PCR test, as academy chief Ulrich Matthes had previously explained. “And then you can celebrate, then you can make out. And happy with wet eyes that German cinema is alive. ”Dpa
