Matthias Glasner’s ‘Dying’ Wins German Film Awards
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Matthias Glasner’s epic dysfunctional family drama Dying has won the top prize for best film at the 2024 German Film Awards, the Lolas.
Dying was one of the critical favorites at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where Glasner won the Silver Bear for best screenplay. The film stars Lars Eidinger as a classical conductor with an extremely dysfunctional family.
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In addition to the top prize, Corinna Harfoch won the best actress Lola for her role in Dying, where she plays Eidinger’s sharp-tonged and cold-hearted mother. Her Dying co-star Hans-Uwe Bauer took best supporting actor, and the film also took the Lola for best film music for composer Lorenz Dangel.
Ayşe Polat took best director and best screenplay for In the Blind Spot, her twisty documentary-style conspiracy thriller set in modern-day Turkey. The film, which premiered in Berlin’s Encounters section last year, won the top prize at the Oldenburg Film Festival, the German Independence Award. It follows a German film team shooting a documentary in a remote Kurdish village who begin to witness mysterious happenings and become entwined in a sinister conspiracy. The film also made it to the best film podium, winning the best film Lola in bronze.
Simon Morzé took the best actor Lola for the lead role in Adrian Goiginger’s WW2 film The Fox, in which he portrays a young German soldier who saves a wounded fox cub and takes it with him into occupied France. The film, which is based on a true story, also took the runner-up best film Lola in silver.
The best supporting actress nod went to Adele Neuhauser for her turn in 15 Years, Chris Kraus’ sequel to his 2006 drama Four Minutes, which co-stars Hannah Herzsprung and The Zone of Interest lead Christian Friedl.
Timm Kröger’s experimental sci-fi feature The Universal Theory, a black-and-white drama about the multiverse, was a big winner in the technical categories, winning Lolas for best cinematography (for Roland Stuprich), best visual effects (Karlem Saleh, Adrian Meyer) and best costume design (Cosima Vellenzer, Anika Klatt). The film premiered in Venice last year and won the Venice Independent Critics’ Prize.
The recreation of the 1980s pop music world in Milli Vanilli’s biopic Girl You Know It’s True also won over the German academy, with Ingken Benesch winning the Lola for best costume design and Alisza Pfeifer and Christina Baier taking the prize for best hair and makeup.
The best documentary prize went to Steffi Niederzoll’s Seven Winters in Tehran, a harrowing first-hand account of a young Iranian woman convicted of killing her would-be rapist.
In addition to being Germany‘s top cinema prize, the German Film Awards are also the most lucrative, coming with some $3.25 million (€3 million) in prize money for the winners and nominees, which they can use to finance future projects.
A highlight of the evening came when German cinema legend Hanna Schygulla turned her acceptance speech for her honorary Lola for lifetime achievement into a freewheeling combination of personal recollections, political speech and stand-up routine. “People call me an icon,” said the Lilli Marleen and The Marriage of Maria Braun actress. “Well, why not?”
See the full list of winners below.
Best Film
In The Blind Spot dir. Ayşe Polat WINNER LOLA IN BRONZE
Dying dir. Matthias Glasner WINNER LOLA IN GOLD
Elaha dir. Milena Aboyan
The Fox dir. Adrian Goiginger WINNER LOLA IN SILVER
The Universal Theory dir. Timm Kröger
A Whole Life dir. Hans Steinbichler
Best Director
Matthias Glasner for Dying
Timm Kröger for The Universal Theory
Ayşe Polat for In the Blind Spot WINNER
Best Actress
Corinna Harfoch for Dying WINNER
Hannah Herzsprung for 15 Years
Bayan Layla for Elaha
Best Actor
Lars Eidinger for Dying
Marc Hosemann for Sophia, Death and Me
Simon Morzé for The Fox WINNER
Best Supporting Actress
Adele Neuhauser for 15 Years WINNER
Barbara Philipp for Sprich mit mir
Marie-Lou Sellem for Bones and Names
Best Supporting Actor
Hans-Uwe Bauer for Dying WINNER
Christian Friedel for 15 Years
Robert Gwisdek for Dying
Best Screenplay
Matthias Glasner for Dying
Adrian Goiginger for The Fox
Ayşe Polat for In The Blind Spot WINNER
Best Children’s Film
Checker Tobi und die Reise zu den fliegenden Flüssen dir. Johannes Honsell
Winners dir. Soleen Yusef WINNER
Best Documentary Film
Anselm dir. Wim Wenders
Seven Winters in Tehran dir. Steffi Niederzoll WINNER
Vergiss Meyn Nicht dir. Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl, Jens Mühlhoff
Best Cinematographer
Yoshi Helmrath, Paul Spritz for The Fox
Lotta Kilian for Luise
Roland Stuprich for The Universal Theory WINNER
Best VFX
Manfred Büttner for The Fox
Marco Del Bianco for Stella, A Life
Karlem Saleh, Adrian Meyer for The Universal Theory WINNER
Juri Stanossek, Apollonia Hartmann, Jan Burda for Girl You Know It’s True
Best Hair and Makeup
Kerstin Gaecklein, Lisa Becker for Stella, A Life
Helene Lang for A Whole Life
Alisza Pfeifer, Christina Baier for Girl You Know It’s True WINNER
Best Production Design
Heike Lange, Alexandra Pilhatsch for Girl You Know It’s True
Albrecht Konrad, Ellen Somnitz, Ruth Barbara Wilbert for Stella, A Life
Jurek Kuttner, Marcel Beranek, Hanna Bowe, Bernadette Weinzierl for A Whole Life
Cosima Vellenzer, Anika Klatt for The Theory of Everything WINNER
Best Costume Design
Ingken Benesch for Girl You Know It’s True WINNER
Tonja Hausner for The Glory of Life
Thomas Olah for Stella, A Life
Best Editing
David J. Achilles for Falling Into Place
Heike Gnida for Dying
Nicole Kortlüke for Seven Winters in Tehran WINNER
Best Film Music
Lorenz Dangel for Dying WINNER
John Gürtler, Jan Miserre featuring Saba Alizadeh for Empty Nets
Diego Ramos Rodriguez for The Universal Theory
Best Sound Design
Bahma Ardalan, Ansgar Frerich, Florian Beck for Empty Nets
Michael Schlömer, Corinna Fleig, Tobias Fleig for The Dive WINNER
Max Vornehm, Christof Ebhardt, Christian Bischoff for A Whole Life
Honorary Lola for Hanna Schygulla
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