German Film Awards 2019: The favorites

Filmmaker Andreas Dresen directed a touching and politically insightful work about the life of East German singer Gerhard Rüdiger Gundermann (1955-1998), whose songs featured powerful social commentary — yet the musician also worked for the Stasi, the GDR's secret police. Alexander Scheer is brilliant in the title role. The biopic is nominated in 10 categories, including best film.

Among the other contestants in the best film category is "Styx." Wolfgang Fischer's drama centers on a young woman who, while out sailing on her own on the Mediterranean, meets a boat loaded with helpless refugees. The film confronts viewers with difficult moral questions: Should one's reaction to such a situation be guided by responsibility and humanism or insensitive laws?

Christian Petzold's "Transit," another best film nominee, also centers on refugees. The director took on a daring aesthetic approach: While the film is based on Anna Seghers' famous novel of the same title, set in France after the German invasion, the present-day settings in which the movie is shot blur historical references, merging the fates of refugees from the past and the present.

Based on comedian Hape Kerkeling's autobiography, the biopic titled in German "Der Junge muss an die frische Luft" is another best film contestant. Caroline Link's touching family and childhood story obtained five different nominations. It is already guaranteed to obtain an award beyond these categories, for the most successful German film at the box office.

Like the Oscars, the German Film Awards — also known as the Lolas — honor achievements in different categories, including best documentary. "Hi, A.I." by Isa Willinger, which deals with artificial intelligence and "human" robots, is one of the documentaries nominated in this category.

There's a clear favorite in this category: Andreas Dresen. After all, his film "Gundermann" obtained 10 nominations. The filmmaker is portrayed here alongside his latest work's main actor, Alexander Scheer, at a concert in Bonn. The other contenders for the best director award are Wolfgang Fischer for "Styx" and Caroline Link for "That Boy Needs Fresh Air."

In 2018, "Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver" was the most successful German film at the box-office. Yet "That Boy Needs Fresh Air," released at the end of the year, managed to seize the Lola for the most-visited movie through its strong sales within the first months of 2019, also taken into account for the award. "Jim Button" could still pick up a prize in the best children's film category.

Three amazing actresses can hope for a Lola Award in the best lead actress category on May 3. Along with Susanne Wolff, who stars in "Styx," and Luise Heyern in "The Most Beautiful Couple," Aenne Schwarz is also nominated for her portrayal of a rape victim in "All Good" (pictured above).

Nominated for a best lead actor Lola Award are Alexander Scheer for his "Gundemann" portrayal, Rainer Bock in "Atlas," as well as Jonas Dassler for his role in Fatih Akin's bloody serial killer film, "The Golden Glove." The handsome face of the actor born in 1996 was completely transformed to portray the infamous murderer Fritz Honka, who killed several prostitutes in Hamburg in the 1970s.

Camerawomen are still rare in the film industry, but a definitely talented one managed to obtain two nominations in the category this year. Judith Kaufmann was the cinematographer for "That Boy Needs Fresh Air" and "Only a Woman," starring Almila Bagriacik (picture).

The film about the 1980s protests against the Wackersdorf nuclear reprocessing plant in West Germany draws much of its atmosphere from its soundtrack, created by the group Hochzeitskapelle. The band is nominated for the German Film Award in the best film music category.

Bets are open for the Lola Awards, but not for this one: A leading figure of the New German Cinema, Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with a German Film Award for her lifetime achievement. The director's works include "Marianne and Juliane" (1981), "Rosa Luxemburg" (1986) and "Hannah Arendt" (2012).