The White Ribbon (Films du Losange / Sony Pictures Classics) (top); Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca in Storm (Zentropa) (bottom)
Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon is one of the nominees for the German Film Critics Association's best picture award. Set in a small German town prior to the outbreak of World War I, Haneke's stark drama received four nominations: best picture, actor (Burghardt Klaussner), screenplay, and cinematography. The 2009 Palme d'Or and European Film Award winner has been well-received in the United States, though it has surprisingly failed to win many awards from American critics' groups. The White Ribbon is German's submission for the 2010 best foreign language film Academy Award.
The German critics' other top nominee is Hans-Christian Schmid's political drama Storm, also with four nods including best picture. Starring Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca, and Stephen Dillane, Storm chronicles events resulting from an investigation of war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia.
The other best picture nominees are Sandra Nettlebeck's Helen, starring Ashley Judd; Marcus H. Rosenmuller's period drama Little White Lies; Florian Gallenberger's German Film Award-winning World War II drama John Rabe, starring Ulrich Tukur (who also stars in The White Ribbon) as an East Asian version of Oskar Schindler; Andreas Dresen's film industry spoof Whisky with Vodka, with Corinna Harfouch; and Alain Gsponer's romantic comedy Lila, Lila, with Daniel Brühl and Hannah Herzsprung.
Curiously, Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen wasn't shortlisted among the best picture nominees.
The winners will be announced at the Berlin Film Festival, which runs Feb. 11-21.
Below is a partial list of nominees:
Feature film
The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band), Michael Haneke
Little White Lies (Die Perlmutterfarbe) Marcus H. Rosenmüller
Helen, Sandra Nettelbeck
John Rabe, Florian Gallenberger
My Word, My Lies, My Love – Lila, Lila, Alain Gsponer
Storm (Sturm), Hans-Christian Schmid
Whisky With Vodka (Whisky Mit Wodka), Andreas DresenFeature Film Debut
The Red Spot (Der Rote Punkt), Marie Miyayama
Evet, Ich Will!, Sinan Akkus
Hangtime (Kein Leichtes Spiel), Wolfgang Groos
Salami Aleikum, Ali Samadi Ahadi
Teenage Angst, Thomas Stuber
Weltstadt, Christian KlandtDocumentary
Achterbahn, Peter Dörfler
Harlan – Im Schatten Von Jud Suss, Felix Moeller
Henners Traum, Klaus Stern
Material, Thomas Heise
Zum Vergleich. Harun FarockiActress
Iris Berben, The Day Will Come (Es KIommt Der Tag)
Corinna Harfouch, This Is Love
Birgit Minichmayr, Everyone Else (Alle Anderen)
Mina Tander, Maria, He Doesn’t Like It! (Maria, Ihm Schmeckt’s Nicht!)
Nadja Uhl, So Glücklich War Ich Noch NieActor
Lars Eidinger, Everyone Else
Walter Giller, Dinosaurier
Burghardt Klaussner, The White Ribbon
Devid Striesow, So Glücklich War Ich Noch Nie
Ulrich Tukur, John Rabe
Source: Screen International