2009 Lola Winners

Inspired by real-life events, the World War II drama John Rabe won the 2009 German Film Academy’s Lola for best film. Directed by Florian Gallenberger, John Rabe tells the story of a German businessman (best actor winner Ulrich Tukur) credited with saving more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing (then Nanking) massacre of 1937-38.
Additionally, John Rabe, which has been a box-office disappointment in Germany, won Lolas for best production design (Tu Ju Hua) and best costume design (Lisy Christl). I believe it’s safe to say that Gallenberger’s film will be Germany’s submission for the 2010 best foreign-language film Academy Award. And that it’ll land an Oscar nomination.

The best director Lola went to Andreas Dresen for the popular [...]