Germany's "Lenin" Wins Top Prizes at European Film Awards

Germany's "Lenin" Wins Top Prizes at European Film Awards

by Eugene Hernandez

Daniel Brühl stars in "Good Bye, Lenin," the hit German film that lead this year's European Film Award nominations. Credit: X Filme

In Berlin on Saturday night, the German hit "Good Bye, Lenin!" was the big winner at the 2003 European Film Awards. The X Filme production won six prizes from the European Film Academy, including best European film of 2003, best actor for Daniel Brühl, and best European screenwriter for writer Bernd Lichtenberg. Director Wolfgang Becker, actor Brühl and actress Katrin Sass all won people's choice awards at the annual European Film Awards.

"Lenin" was also a big winner at the annual German Film Awards where it nabbed prizes for best film, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, best editing, best music, production design, and audience awards for German feature of the year and actor of the year.

Brühl, the young German actor who also appears in X Filme's "Love in Thoughts" which will premiere at Sundance next month, stars in "Lenin!" as a son whose mother falls into a coma shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. To protect her heart from the shock of the news, once she is revived, he must avoid telling her what is really going on outside their East German apartment. The film is described as "the story of how a loving son tries to move mountains and create miracles to restore his mother to health -- and keep her in the belief that Lenin really did win after all."

The film was selected as Germany's submission for foreign language category at the upcoming Academy Awards. Nominations will be announced next month.

COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS OF THE EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2003 (as
provided by the European Film Academy):

EUROPEAN FILM 2003

"Good Bye, Lenin!," Germany

directed by Wolfgang Becker

produced by X Filme Creative Pool GmbH

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2003

Lars von Trier

for "Dogville," Denmark

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2003

Daniel Brühl

in "Good Bye, Lenin!," Germany

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2003

Charlotte Rampling

in "Swimming Pool," France

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2003

Bernd Lichtenberg

for "Good Bye, Lenin!," Germany

EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER 2003

Anthony Dod Mantle

for "28 Days Later," UK & "Dogville," Denmark

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2003

Claude Chabrol, France

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2003

Carlo di Palma, Italy

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DISCOVERY 2003 - Prix Fassbinder

"Vozvraschenie" (The Return)

by Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY CRITICS AWARD 2003 - Prix Fipresci

"Buongiorno, Notte" (Goodmorning, Night)

by Marco Bellocchio, Italy

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2003 - Prix Arte

"S21, La Machine de Mort Khmere Rouge" (S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing
Machine)

by Rithy Panh, France

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2003 - Prix UIP

"(A) Torzija"

by Stefan Arsenijevic, Slovenia

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY NON-EUROPEAN FILM 2003 - Prix Screen
International

"Les Invasions Barbares"

by Denys Arcand, Canada

THE JAMESON PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS 2003

- voted for by film fans across Europe -

Best European Director:

Wolfgang Becker

for "Good Bye, Lenin!," Germany

Best European Actor:

Daniel Brühl

in "Good Bye, Lenin!," Germany

Best European Actress:

Katrin Sass

in "Good Bye, Lenin!," Germany