German Film Award for Best Fiction Film

The German Film Award for Best Fiction Film (German: Bester Spielfilm) is the main award given for best German film at the annual Deutscher Filmpreis awards, the German national film awards. It has been held annually since 1951 in varying formats. As the constitution said the prize was only awarded, if outstanding achievement was given, not every year a film was declared the winner of the prize. For the first three years, the Golden Candlestick was the highest honour for this category. It was then replaced by the Golden Bowl as a Challenge Prize, that would be passed to the winner of the next occasion, however as it was not given out for 17 years, the prize was abandoned for good in 1996. Regular prize winners receive a Film Award in Gold whereas the runners-up receive a silver award. A bronze award for the second runner-up was introduced in 2008. On some occasions, no film received the gold prize and a winner of the Silver Award was declared the best film of the year.

List of winning films

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1951–1986

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From 1951 to 1986 the prize was awarded by a commission which selected the best German feature film released in the previous 12 months.

Year English title Original title Director(s) Trophy received
1951 Two Times Lotte Das doppelte Lottchen Josef von Báky Golden Candlestick
1952
No award given.
1953 Nights on the Road aka The Mistress Nachts auf den Straßen Rudolf Jugert Golden Candlestick
1954 No Way Back Weg ohne Umkehr Victor Vicas Golden Bowl
1955 Canaris: Master Spy Canaris Alfred Weidenmann
1956
No award given.
1957 The Captain from Köpenick Der Hauptmann von Köpenick Helmut Käutner Golden Bowl
1958 The Devil Strikes at Night Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam Robert Siodmak
1959 Arms and the Man Helden Franz Peter Wirth
1960 The Bridge Die Brücke Bernhard Wicki
1961
No award given.
1962 The Bread of Those Early Years Das Brot der frühen Jahre Herbert Vesely Film Award in Silver
1963 The Endless Night [de] Die endlose Nacht Will Tremper
The Lightship Das Feuerschiff Ladislao Vajda
1964 The River Line Kennwort... Reiher Rudolf Jugert Film Award in Gold
1965 The House in Karp Lane Das Haus in der Karpfengasse Kurt Hoffmann
1966 Young Törless Der junge Törless Volker Schlöndorff
1967 Yesterday Girl Abschied von gestern Alexander Kluge
1968 Tattoo Tätowierung Johannes Schaaf
1969 Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos Alexander Kluge
1970 Katzelmacher Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Malatesta Peter Lilienthal
1971 First Love Maximilian Schell
Lenz [de] George Moorse
1972 Trotta Johannes Schaaf
Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
1973 The Experts Die Sachverständigen Norbert Kückelmann Golden Bowl
1974 The Pedestrian Der Fußgänger Maximilian Schell
1975 Lina Braake Bernhard Sinkel Film Award in Silver
1976 Calm Prevails Over the Country [de] Es herrscht Ruhe im Land Peter Lilienthal Golden Bowl
1977 Heinrich [de] Helma Sanders-Brahms
1978 The Glass Cell Die gläserne Zelle Hans W. Geißendörfer Film Award in Gold
1979 The Tin Drum Die Blechtrommel Volker Schlöndorff Golden Bowl
1980 The Last Years of Childhood [de] Die letzten Jahre der Kindheit Norbert Kückelmann Film Award in Silver
1981 A Lot of Bills to Pay [de] Jede Menge Kohle Adolf Winkelmann Film Award in Gold
1982 Marianne and Juliane Die bleierne Zeit Margarethe von Trotta
1983 The State of Things Der Stand der Dinge Wim Wenders
1984 Where the Green Ants Dream Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen Werner Herzog
1985 Colonel Redl Oberst Redl István Szabó

1986–present

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Year English title Original title Director(s)
1986 Rosa Luxemburg Margarethe von Trotta
1987
No Golden Award was given.
1988 Wings of Desire Der Himmel über Berlin Wim Wenders
1989 Yasemin Hark Bohm
1990 Last Exit to Brooklyn Letzte Ausfahrt Brooklyn Uli Edel
1991 Malina Werner Schroeter
1992 Schtonk! Helmut Dietl
1993
No Golden Award was given.
1994 Kaspar Hauser [de] Peter Sehr
1995 Maybe... Maybe Not Der bewegte Mann Sönke Wortmann
1996 Deathmaker Der Totmacher Romuald Karmakar
1997 Rossini [de] Rossini – oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief Helmut Dietl
1998 The Harmonists Comedian Harmonists Joseph Vilsmaier
1999 Run Lola Run Lola rennt Tom Tykwer
2000 No Place to Go Die Unberührbare Oskar Roehler
2001 The State I Am In Die innere Sicherheit Christian Petzold
2002 Nowhere in Africa Nirgendwo in Afrika Caroline Link
2003 Good Bye, Lenin! Wolfgang Becker
2004 Head-On Gegen die Wand Fatih Akın
2005 Go for Zucker Alles auf Zucker! Dani Levy
2006 The Lives of Others Das Leben der Anderen Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
2007 Four Minutes Vier Minuten Chris Kraus
2008 The Edge of Heaven Auf der anderen Seite Fatih Akın
2009 John Rabe Florian Gallenberger
2010 The White Ribbon Das weiße Band Michael Haneke
2011 Vincent Wants to Sea Vincent will Meer Ralf Huettner
2012 Stopped on Track Halt auf freier Strecke Andreas Dresen
2013 A Coffee in Berlin Oh Boy Jan-Ole Gerster
2014 Home from Home Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht Edgar Reitz
2015 Victoria Victoria Sebastian Schipper
2016 The People vs. Fritz Bauer Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer Lars Kraume
2017 Toni Erdmann Toni Erdmann Maren Ade
2018 3 Days in Quiberon 3 Tage in Quiberon Emily Atef
2019 Gundermann Gundermann Andreas Dresen
2020 System Crasher Systemsprenger Nora Fingscheidt
2021 I'm Your Man Ich bin dein Mensch Maria Schrader
2022 Dear Thomas Lieber Thomas Andreas Kleinert
2023 The Teachers' Lounge Das Lehrerzimmer İlker Çatak
2024 Dying Sterben Matthias Glasner

References

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