by Nathaniel R
Christian Friedel's "musical" debut in THE WHITE LOTUS may have been a non-starter scene but the actor (of ZONE OF INTEREST and BABYLON BERLIN fame) hosted the 75th Lola Awards with song and dance.
While this news is a month or so old, there are so few movie awards in the summer we feel we owe it to Germany to report on the Lola Awards since we reported on Norway's Amanda Awards last week. The Lola (aka the German Film Award) has been awarded since 1951. The biggest trophy hauls ever have gone to The Devil Strikes At Night (1958) -- which Juan Carlos and I discussed on his podcast The One Inch Barrier a few years ago -- and Michael Haneke's black and white period drama The White Ribbon (2010) which both earned 10 trophies (both also competed for at the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Feature). The runner up to these biggest winners ever was the excellent dramedy Good Bye Lenin! (2003) which made an international star out of Daniel Brühl back in the day and collected 8 Lolas though it was sadly snubbed at the Oscars for Best Foreign Film.
This year functioned as an unofficial reunion for the cast of the great TV series Babylon Berlin and two minor Oscar players from last season won key awards...
September 5 was the big winner at the Lolas taking 8 prizes including the gold for Best Film. Since the Lolas have a gold, silver, and bronze award in the top category, The Seed of the Sacred Fig (far superior to September 5 if you ask us!) had to settle for the silver. With Love, Your Hilde a World War II set anti-Nazi romantic drama took Bronze. The other nominees for the top prize were the resort drama Islands and legendary concert drama Köln 75 (both of which Elisa reviewed at Berlinale earlier this year), and Vena, a drama about a young pregnant woman. Since a lot of the nominees this year were in English or released in 2024, none will be eligible as the German Oscar submission for 2025 with the exception of From Hilde with Love which was released after the Oscar submission cutoff date in mid October 2024.
THE WINNERS
Best Film September 5
Best Director Moritz Binder & Tim Fehlbaum, September 5
Best Actress Liv Lisa Fries, With Love Your Hilde
She's sensational as the female lead of Babylon Berlin (please watch if you haven't!) so we're happy to see her get more flowers. We're hoping this romantic drama makes its way to the US somehow.
Best Actor Misagh Zare, Seed of the Sacred Fig
Surprisingly, considering the success of his film, this is Zare's first award for the film!
There are only three nominees in each acting category so he beat British star Sam Riley TWICE (who was up for two separate films, Islands and John Cranko). If you're wondering why Sam Riley (who first came to fame in the Joy Division biopic Control) is in so many German movies, it's because he lives in Berlin and is married to the Romanian -German actress Alexandra Maria Lara (Control, Downfall, The Baader Meinhof Komplex)
Leonie Benesch wins for SEPTEMBER 5 © Eventpress / Deutscher Filmpreis 2025
Best Supporting Actress Leonie Benesch, September 5
This is her second Lola. We first fell for her in the TV series Babylon Berlin. She won her first Lola two years back for the Oscar nominated drama The Teacher's Lounge (streaming on Netflix). She has already filmed a few new projects. Already in release (overseas) is Late Shift, a Swiss/German thriller about a nurse in an understaffed hospital ward. She's also in a forthcoming British TV series Prisoner, and a new comedy short co-starring Imelda Staunton (!) called The Most Powerful Human on Earth. Presumably further out (because we can't find much information about it) is a German drama called The Hero from Friedrichstraße Station which also includes Charly Hübner from The Lives of Others and Daniel Brühl.
Best Supporting Actor Godehard Giese, Sad Jokes
This dramedy is about a gay film director raising a child with his female friend; Giese plays a producer working with the main character.
Three of the four acting winners this year are alums from Babylon Berlin. How about that? (Speaking of Babylon Berlin, it has vanished from Netflix and they never aired the fourth and fifth seasons. What's up with that? )
Best Cinematography September 5
Best Editing September 5
Best Original Film Music Islands
Best Production Design September 5
Best Sound Design September 5
Best Costume Design John Cranko
This is a biopic about a South African ballet dancer who first gained fame in London before moving to Germany (after prosecution for homosexuality in the UK) to become the director of the Stuttgart Ballet. Sounds interesting!
Best Makeup September 5
Best Visual Effects Hagen- In the Valley of the Nibelung
This fantasy drama is a reinterpretation of the German epic poem about a dragon slayer and the Burgundian kingdom. The poem has inspired previous films (most famously Fritz Lang's two part silent film) and of course Wagner's classic opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung".
Most Attended Film - The School of Magical Animals Part 3
Hollywood isn't the only country making movies like they're just big episodes of tv shows. 
Best Documentary Petra Kelly - Act Now!
A biography doc about the activist and co-founder of Germany's Green Party.
Best Children's Film Akiko the Flying Monkey
Honorary Award - An Dorthe Braker
What an excellent choice. She's a casting director who helped elevate German classics like arthouse sensation Run Lola Run (1998), The Experiment (2001), the Oscar winning Nowhere in Africa (2001), and Oscar nominees Downfall (2004) and The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008).