Nominations for the Lolas: Nothing new at the Film Awards

Two weeks after the success on Oscar night, which was ultimately somewhat surprising to this extent, the nominations for the German Film Prize, which the Film Academy announced on Friday, are very expected. Of course, Edward Berger’s “Nothing New in the West” dominates the awards ceremony on May 12 in twelve categories: an impressive flexing of muscles by the streaming producer Netflix, which also rebuffs the despondent German cinema. You just have to put the money in your hands. With a budget of an estimated 20 million euros, Berger still managed with a good quarter of what Sam Mendes had available four years ago for his West Front film “1917”.

There has not been such a self-confident sign as “Nothing new in the west” in German film since “Das Boot”. Wolfgang Petersen’s underwater drama not only launched the director’s Hollywood career, but also that of his leading actor Jürgen Prochnow and cameraman Jost Vacano. In this respect, the expected success with the Lolas is definitely deserved, if only because of its various unique selling points. However, one curiosity remains striking: With the Iranian drama “Holy Spider” by Ali Abbasi and “Nothing New in the West” two productions have been nominated for the best film in which either German money is invested but no German “talent” is involved; or on which a lot of German filmmakers worked, but whose costs were completely capped by Netflix.

You can think of what you want. But that’s not exactly an argument for questioning German film funding per se (as was sometimes gleefully read in the context of the Oscars). On the contrary, this only shows how overdue a reform of the Film Funding Act is. The sheer dominance of “Nothing New in the West” (and thus Netflix) hardly leaves any room for other films. Even Fatih Akin’s highly successful rapper biography “Rheingold” (a nomination) and the Meyerhoff film adaptation “When will it finally come back” pale in comparison as it never was” (two).

Diversity in German cinema

In a year with films such as “The Teacher’s Room” by Ilker Çatak (seven nominations), David Wnendt’s “Sonne und Beton” (four) and “Seneca” by Robert Schwentke (at least one), the triumph of “Nothing New in the West” is back pointing out the old problem of film awards: that the most important awards are concentrated around one title. Not a good prerequisite for celebrating the diversity of German film. But that’s exactly what cinema needs, three years after the pandemic.

Edward Berger is of course right when he says that it is the very least he can do about it. So one has to hope that the two thousand academy members who award the Lolas are quick-witted enough to evaluate the German film year in a differentiated way. After four Oscars, Nothing New in the West doesn’t need a shelf full of Lolas. Giving some of its radiance to the smaller films would really be a contribution to German cinema.

To home page

Source: Tagesspiegel

Share this article:

Leave a Reply

most popular