Actress Leonie Benesch has won the German Film Award for Best Actress. The 32-year-old was honored on Friday evening in Berlin for her role in the drama "The Teacher's Room". In it, she plays a teacher who wants to solve a series of thefts and therefore decides to secretly run a camera in the teachers' room.
Director Volker Schlöndorff ("The Tin Drum") has been honoured for outstanding services to German film. The German Film Academy awarded the 84-year-old the honorary prize on Friday evening in Berlin. Hollywood star John Malkovich paid tribute to his work in a video address, and other filmmakers such as Nina Hoss and Katharina Thalbach also congratulated him.
Many would have thought when looking at the price list: "Oh, that one again?", joked Schlöndorff in his acceptance speech for the honorary award. "And I even thought, 'Don't I already have it?'" He thanked the Film Academy and its members. Several guests in the hall stood up and applauded him.
You can't get the honorary award late enough, because nothing is finished and you think there is still a lot possible, Schlöndorff said. He tearfully thanked his former partner, director Margarethe von Trotta, among others, and called on people to go to the cinema.
The award for best performance in a male supporting role went to Albrecht Schuch for his role in the anti-war film "Nothing New in the West". The 37-year-old has now won four Lolas over the course of his career. Last year he was honored for his role in the drama "Dear Thomas", and in 2020 he won two trophies for "System Crasher" and "Berlin Alexanderplatz".