When there was a dramaturgy at the German Film Awards as to how the awards could be presented in the most exciting way – then the 73rd Lola Awards would have deserved an award.
Many had claimed that this would be a pretty boring event, because “Nothing new in the West” was nominated for almost every category except best female lead – and not there only because there is no female lead in the film. And what other German film wanted to compete with a four-time Oscar winner?
It also went as predicted: “Nothing New in the West” cleared category after category. Albrecht Schuch won best supporting male role. Sound went to the war film, mask too, camera too, just like them best music. He could not win the best female supporting role, which went to Jördis Triebel in “In a country that no longer exists”. It was also out of the question for the children’s film, this award surprisingly went to “Mission Ulja Funk” instead of “Räuber Hotzenplotz”.
Then the break began: For the first time, “Nothing New in the West” lost out in a nominee duel: “Sisi & Me” won the costumes.
Markus Schleinzer and Sandra Hüller in “Sisi & I”
Source: Bernd Spauke/Walker+Worm Film
Scene from the film “Sisi & Me”
Source: Bernd Spauke/Walker+Worm Film GmbH & Co. KG
“Nothing New in the West” then got the set design and visual effects and best male lead (Felix Kammerer), but in the meantime a rival had already established itself: the school drama “The Teacher’s Room”. The Berlinale film won the script and the editing – which was quite astonishing given the fast-paced editing of the film “Nothing New in the West”. Leonie Benesch received the award for the best leading actress.
Felix Kammerer receives the award for the best male leading role at the German Film Awards
Source: dpa/Hannes P. Albert
Leoni Benesch received the award for the best female leading role for her performance in “The Teacher’s Room”.
Source: dpa/Hannes P. Albert
And then came the bang: it wasn’t Edward Berger, the highly acclaimed director of “Nothing New in the West”, who received the award for best director, but lker Çatak, the son of Turkish immigrants who was born in Berlin in 1984, for his “teacher’s room”.
An outsider prevails
The race for the best film was suddenly wide open again. And indeed, after almost five hours – a record time for the German Film Prize – Senta Berger announced the big outsider as the winner: “The Teacher’s Room”!
The golden Lola goes to the team from “Das Lehrerzimmer”
Source: dpa/Hannes P. Albert
This has had a similar effect on the German Film Awards as on the Oscars for years: Netflix productions, as she is “Nothing New in the West”., is being denied the highest honors because the streaming service continues to refuse to give its productions a decent theatrical run first. “Im Westen” was essentially only in cinemas for a month in Germany, but not at all in many other countries.
This is the acknowledgment of the members of the film academies for a business model that ultimately amounts to the destruction of the “cinema” as a place. And that’s why the war drama got nine Lolas, but the most important ones escaped it. “The Teacher’s Room” only won five statues – but is the secret winner.
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