Preis der deutschen Filmkritik (German Film Critics Awards) – winners

The Verband der deutschen Filmkritik (Association of German Film Critics) announced the winners of the Preis der deutschen Filmkritik (German Film Critics Awards) for the best films of 2012 at the Internationalen Filmfestspiele Berlin (Berlin International Film Festival, or Berlinale).

The top prize of Best Film went to Christian Petzold's Cold War drama Barbara. It had been competing against Dietrich Brüggemann's Drei Zimmer/Küche/Bad (Move), Jan Ole Gerster's Oh Boy!, Hans-Christian Schmid's Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend), and David Wnendt's Kriegerin (Combat Girls). Barbara also won for Best Editing.

Gerster's comedy Oh Boy! didn't score for Best Film but still managed to win for Best Debut Film as well as Best Music. The film portrays a day in the life of Niko, a university dropout who wanders the streets of Berlin after his girlfriend breaks up with him, his father cuts off his allowance, and a psychiatrist confirms his “emotional imbalance.”

The only other winner of more than one award was Hans-Christian Schmid's Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend) which won for Best Screenplay and whose star Lars Eidinger won for his role in this film and Tabu.


Complete list of winners for the 2012 Preis der deutschen Filmkritik

Best Film
Christian Petzold – Barbara

Best Debut Film
Jan Ole Gerster – Oh Boy!

Best Documentary
Antje Hubert – Das Ding am Deich (The Thing on the Dike)

Best Short Film
Elmar Imano – Die Schaukel des Sargmachers (The Swing of the Coffin Maker)

Best Actress
Alina Levshin – Kriegerin (Combat Girls)

Best Actor
Lars Eidinger – Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend), Tabu

Best Editing
Bettina Böhler – Barbara

Best Screenplay
Bernd Lange – Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend)

Best Cinematography
Jakub Bejnarowicz – Gnade, Der Fluss war einst ein Mensch (The River Used to Be a Man)

Best Music
The Major Minors and Cherilyn MacNeil – Oh Boy!

Honourary Award
Christel and Hans Strobel (for their contribution to German children's film)

Innovation Award
Fred Kelemen (for his outstanding cinematography in Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse)


Complete list of nominations for the 2012 Preis der deutschen Filmkritik

Best Film
Dietrich Brüggemann – Drei Zimmer/Küche/Bad (Move)
Jan Ole Gerster – Oh Boy!
Christian Petzold – Barbara
Hans-Christian Schmid – Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend)
David Wnendt – Kriegerin (Combat Girls)

Best Debut Film
Bora Dagtekin – Türkisch für Anfänger (Turkish for Beginners)
Jan Ole Gerster – Oh Boy!
Jessica Krummacher – Totem
Sarah Judith Mettke – Transpapa
Jan Speckenbach – Die Vermissten (Reported Missing)

Best Children's Film
Philipp Stennert and Cyrill Boss – Das Haus der Krokodile (Victor and the Secret of Crocodile Mansion)
Tina von Traben – Pommes Essen (Patty's Catchup)
Norbert Lechner – Tom & Hacke
Wolfgang Groos – Die Vampirschwestern (Vampire Sisters)
Frieder Schlaich – Weil ich schöner bin ('Cause I have the Looks)

Best Documentary
Antje Hubert – Das Ding am Deich (The Thing on the Dike)
Ulrike Schamoni – Abschied von den Fröschen (Farewell to the Frogs)
Andreas Dresen – Herr Wichmann aus der dritten Reihe (Henryk from the Back Row)
Philip Scheffner – Revision
Thomas Riedelsheimer – Breathing Earth

Best Actress
Alice Dwyer – Drei Zimmer/Küche/Bad (Move)
Martina Gedeck – Die Wand (The Wall)
Nina Hoss – Barbara
Alina Levshin – Kriegerin (Combat Girls)
Aylin Tezel – Am Himmel der Tag (Breaking Horizons), Drei Zimmer/Küche/Bad (Move)

Best Actor
Lars Eidinger – Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend), Tabu
Tom Schilling – Oh Boy!
Peter Schneider – Die Summe meiner einzelnen Teile (Hut in the Woods)
Bernhard Schütz – Das System (The System)
Ronald Zehrfeld – Barbara

Best Editing
Bettina Böhler – Barbara
Henk Drees – Work Hard Play Hard
Gergana Voigt – Das System (The System)

Best Screenplay
Anna Brüggemann / Dietrich Brüggemannn – Drei Zimmer/Küche/Bad (Move)
Bernd Lange – Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend)
Christian and Heide Schwochow – Die Unsichtbare (Cracks in the Shell)

Best Cinematography
Jakub Bejnarowicz – Gnade, Der Fluss war einst ein Mensch (The River Used to Be a Man)
Matthias Schellenberg Dirk Lütter – Work Hard Play Hard
Felix Novo de Oliveira – Wir wollten aufs Meer (Shores of Hope)

Best Music
The Major Minors and Cherilyn MacNeil – Oh Boy!
The Notwist – Was bleibt (Home for The Weekend)
Carsten Meyer Jaques Palminger, Rocko Schamoni, Heinz Strunk – Fraktus

The nominating jury consisted of:
Feature Film: Joachim Kurz, Anna Wollner, Thomas Abeltshauser, Barbara Lorey, Josef Nagel, Tatjana Rosenstein and Rüdiger Suchsland
Documentary: Kirsten Kieninger, Heike Hurst (now deceased), Alexandra Puetter, Bodo Schönfelder, Caroline M. Buck
Children's Film: Christel Strobel, Horst Schäfer, Rolf-Rüdiger Hamacher