Not a gala, but a TV show without an audience: the Lolas, Germany's top film award, will be rewarded in 2020 despite the pandemic. A look at the favorites — and at an insecure industry.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kalaene
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German Film Awards 2020: the nominees
From "Berlin Alexanderplatz" to "Undine," there have been no big surprises in the nominations for the German Film Award 2020. Two prize winners have already been named in the run-up to the award ceremony on April 24.
Image: Wolfgang Ennenbach/2019 Sommerhaus/eOne Germany
'Berlin Alexanderplatz'
Six films were nominated in the top category, best feature film. Among them is a film that just premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival: Burhan Qurbani's modern-day adaptation of Alfred Döblin's classic novel, "Berlin Alexanderplatz," originally set in 1920s Berlin. The film is an impressive three-hour epic on flight, migration and big city life.
Image: Wolfgang Ennenbach/2019 Sommerhaus/eOne Germany
'It's the Spoken Word'
"It's the Spoken Word" by director Ilker Catak also addresses central issues of contemporary German society, showing some parallels to "Berlin Alexanderplatz." In the film, a Kurdish man (played by Ogulcan Arman Uslu) wants to gain a foothold in Germany and gets involved in a fictitious marriage with a German.
Image: Filmfest München 2019/Erik Mosoni
'Undine'
In the statistics of the German Film Awards, director Christian Petzold is listed as the person who has been nominated most often to date — but he's never received the award. This time around he has another chance with his film "Undine," which oscillates between fairy tale and contemporary drama. "Undine" (with Paula Beer) also celebrated its world premiere at the 70th Berlinale this year.
Image: Christian Schulz/Schramm Film
'Lara'
"Lara" is an intense drama and another work on the list of six nominated films in the top category. Director Jan-Ole Gerster tells the story of a woman who had to break off her career as a pianist and who now dumps her frustration and passion onto her son, who is also a pianist (played by Tom Schilling). Corinna Harfouch offers an impressive performance in the main role.
Image: FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2019/STUDIOCANAL/Frederic Batier
'Lindenberg! Do your thing'
"Lindenberg! Do your thing" is a trip back through time to the Federal Republic of Germany during the 1960s and 70s, offering a very entertaining view of the early phases of musician Udo Lindenberg's career. Director Hermine Huntgeburth manages — along with her outstanding leading actor Jan Bülow — to create a musical biopic that's also a historical snapshot of an era.
Image: DCM/Letterbox/Gordon Timpen
'System Crasher'
The multiple award-winning "System Crasher" is also one of the films that are now competing for the main prize in the category best feature film on April 24. Director Nora Fingscheidt and her impressive story of a child (played by Helena Zengel), who apparently does not want to adapt to any German educational system, was submitted as the German contribution for the Oscars.
Image: Yunus Roy Imer/Port au Prince Pictures
'Born in Evin'
In the second main category, best documentary film, three works made it into the final round of the competition. In addition to "Schlingensief" (about director Christoph Schlingensief, who died in 2010) and "Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit" (a cinematic essay on German history), the third film "Born in Evin" (photo) was nominated — a personal story by Maryam Zaree, born in the notorious Iran prison.
Image: Tondowski Films
'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit'
The third main category at the 70th German Film Awards, best children's film, features only two works in the final round. "Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale" is an animated film for children about the fall of the Berlin Wall. "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit" (starring Riva Krymalowski, photo) is the literary adaptation of the popular novel by Judith Kerr, directed by Caroline Link.
Image: Sommerhaus/Warner Bros.
'The Perfect Secret'
The award in the category greatest box office success is already known. Here, "The Perfect Secret" by director Bora Dagtekin won the competition. The comedy is a remake of an Italian box-office hit and features a number of prominent German actors (including Karoline Herfurth and Elyas M'Barek). Five million movie-goers have seen "The Perfect Secret" so far.
Image: 2019 Constantin Film/Lucia Faraig
Honorary Prize 2020: Edgar Reitz
It's also clear that Edgar Reitz will grab an honorary prize. The director, who created a feature film series called "Heimat" in 1984, brought worldwide recognition to German cinema. Reitz is being honored for his life's work. He was one of the founding fathers of the New German Cinema in the 1960s and since then he has made many award-winning feature films and documentaries.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Hase
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"There will be a longing for cinema again," said Martin Moszkowicz, head of the major German film production company Constantin. "There was a time before the coronavirus crisis, and there will be a time after," said Ulrich Matthes, president of the German Film Academy, a short time later. Despite the current situation, one can still feel the energy that a visit to movie theaters gives people, Matthes added.
An entire cultural industry is in a coma
Is this now functional optimism or a realistic assessment? The cinemas are currently closed: no films, no moviegoers, no income. The cinema industry, like so many others, is currently on the decline. But even worse: the cinemas, whether large multiplexes or smaller arthouse venues, are only one element in a complex cultural sector. Not much is happening in terms of production either. Across the country, filming has been suspended due to the coronavirus crisis.
The mood at the German Film Prize 2020 will not be nearly as good as it was in the past, here in 2018 with hosts Edin Hasanovic and Iris BerbenImage: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer
Support has been announced from many different places. Monika Grütters, Minister of State for Culture and the Media, has promised an extensive aid package for culture and the period "after" the crisis, from which the cinema industry is also to benefit. "After" means the time when everyday life in Germany can resume again, and when cultural events can take place again. However, nobody can say at present when that will be. The cinema industry is considered to be particularly at risk.
Normality in the film industry is still a long way off
There are several reasons for this. A visit to the cinema always means that many people sit crowded together in a dark room — currently unthinkable because of the danger of infection by the virus. And film shooting also depends on a sense of closeness and intimacy. It is nearly unfathomable that filming — where directors, technicians and actors work closely and intensively together — will be possible in the near future, with the much-cited 1.5 meter-safety distance.
Nor are the many small and large film festivals, which are such an important launch pad for new films, currently taking place. So, an entire industry remains in a deep sleep.
Culture Minister Monika Grütters, , shown here at the Berlinale in February, is a supporter of the film industryImage: Getty Images/A. Rentz
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Nobody can seriously predict when normality will return. It will be interesting to hear what Ulrich Matthes or Monika Grütters will say at the upcoming German Film Awards on April 24. They will certainly try to be encouraging — there's not much else they can do. On the evening of the awards ceremony, they will speak into television cameras, but obviously, the festive gala, normally a highlight of the German cinema year, will not occur this time around.
German Film Awards connected with funding
The German Film Awards will nevertheless be given in 2020. After all, they are the most highly endowed German cultural prizes ever. They are awarded by the some 2,000 members of the "Deutsche Filmakademie," the German Film Academy, following a procedure resembling that of the Oscars. With one important difference: money flows in Germany. Almost €3 million ($3.3 million) are distributed to the nominees and winners, with the condition that is reinvested in new projects.
Ulrich Matthes, president of the German Film Academy, is optimisticImage: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Pedersen
As early as March, the Film Academy's directors were already thinking about how the German Film Awards could occur this year. A complete cancellation was never considered. And why should it? The nominations have been clear since March 11. The only thing left that was left to do since then was to select the winning candidates. These will now be announced during a live television show — without an audience, of course.
Going to the cinema has to wait
While people still yearn to go to the cinema, they can fill their viewing needs by streaming any number of films through various platforms. While most of them were produced for the cinema, they're now available for viewing on small screens.
That might be okay for a while. But in the long run, the longing for a real visit to the movie theater will grow. Movie houses offer an incomparable community experience. And cinema has an unbeatable advantage: films are projected on a large screen, without a toilet break, without a stop button, without distracting conversations, comments and other diversions — this evokes a higher level of concentration and a completely different emotional reaction in the viewer.
