Bavarian Film Awards 2008: Cherry Blossoms wins top award, Fatih Akin named Best Director for The Edge of Heaven
At the 2008 Bavarian Film Awards held on Jan. 18 in Munich, the €200,000 (approx. US$292,000) cash prize accompanying the Producer’s Award – or Best Production – went to Molly von Fürstenberg and Harald Kügler for the Doris Dörrie-directed drama Cherry Blossoms, which also earned Elmar Wepper Best Actor honors.
Cherry Blossoms traces the belated awakening of a recently widowed, terminally ill man (Wepper) who attempts one final grasp at life by traveling to Japan, his wife’s dream destination. Also in the cast: Veteran German Film Award winner Hannelore Elsner (No Place to Go, 2000) as the wife who unexpectedly dies, Nadja Uhl, Maximilian Brückner, and Birgit Minichmayr.
The Bavarian Film Award for Best Director was given to Fatih Akin for the multi-character psychological drama The Edge of Heaven (the German title literally means “On the Other Side”), Best Screenplay winner at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and Germany’s submission for the 2008 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
One key thread revolves around the troubled relationship between a woman (veteran Hanna Schygulla) and her lesbian daughter (Patrycia Ziolkowska). After the young woman is killed while in Turkey, the mother posthumously attempts to mend their ties by way of her daughter’s rough Turkish lover (Nurgül Yesilçay).
The Best Actress winner was Martina Gedeck for Vanessa Jopp’s comedy of disasters Messy Christmas. Gedeck stars as a woman who, in order to get the plot rolling, invites her three former husbands, the former wife of her current husband (Heino Ferch), all of their exes’ current significant others, and their children to spend the Christmas holiday together.
The winners at the 2008 Bavarian Film Awards are listed immediately below.
Bavarian Film Awards 2008
Producer’s Award: Cherry Blossoms / Kirschblüten – Hanami – Molly von Fürstenberg & Harald Kügler of Olga Film
Best Director: Fatih Akin – The Edge of Heaven / Auf der anderen Seite
Best Actor: Elmar Wepper – Cherry Blossoms
Best Actress: Martina Gedeck – Messy Christmas / Meine schöne Bescherung
Best Documentary: To the Limit / Am Limit – Dir.: Pepe Danquart
Best Cinematography: Love Life / Liebesleben – Benedict Neuenfels
Best Score: Love Life – Niki Reiser
Best New Performers: Elinor Lüdde – Meer is nich; Petra Schmidt-Schaller – Runaway Horse / Ein fliehendes Pferd
Best New Director & Screenwriter: Ralf Westhoff – Shoppen Munich / Shoppen
Best New Producers: Hans-Christian Schmid & Britta Knöller – And Along Come Tourists / Am Ende kommen Touristen
Best Youth Film: Hands off Mississippi / Hände weg von Mississippi – Dir.: Detlev Buck
Special Award: Veit Helmer – Absurdistan
Honorary Award: Michael Ballhaus
Audience Award: Lissi and the Wild Emperor / Lissi und der wilde Kaiser – Dir.: Michael Herbig
“Bavarian Film Awards 2008: Cherry Blossoms” notes
*last modified in March 2026.