Actualités

Monica Bleibtreu, a respected stage, film, and television actress, and mother of Moritz Bleibtreu, died yesterday, May 14, in Hamburg. She was 65. Bleibtreu had been battling cancer for a number of years. Born into a theatrical family in Vienna on May 4, 1944, the dark, strong-featured Monica Bleibtreu had been working steadily on German-language television since the late 1960s. Among her TV credits are a presentation of Bertold Brecht’s play Mother (1971), the series Doctors in the mid-1990s, and the made-for-television movie Happy Hour oder Glück und Glas (2000), starring The Lives of Others‘ Martina Gedeck. In 1975, she won a German Television Award for best actress for her performance in the made-for-tv movie Marias letzte Reise / Maria’s Last Trip. Although Bleibtreu had been playing supporting roles in films since the early 1970s (including a brief appearance as a blind woman in her son’s international hit Run, Lola, Run), she made her...

Cannes -- German actress Monica Bleibtreu, mother of star Moritz Bleibtreu ("The Baader Meinhof Complex") and an accomplished performer in her own right, has died of cancer. She was 65.

Bleibtreu has been a fixture on German television for decades but success on the big screen came rather late in life. Her breakthrough performance was as Traude, the curmudgeonly piano teacher in Chris Kraus' "4 Minutes," a role that won her a German Film Award for best actress in 2006.

Other notable films include Nicolette Krebitz's "The Heart Is a Dark Forest," children's film "Max Minsky and Me" and Kai Wessel's Hildegard Knef biopic "Hilde," which premiered at the Berlinale in February.

Bliebtreu's last onscreen performance alongside Julia Jentsch in Bettina Oberli's upcoming crime drama "The Murder Farm." She was to star in Hans Steinbichler's new film "Das Blaue vom Himmel," a role that will now have to be recast.

COLOGNE, Germany -- Senator Entertainment has picked up the U.S. rights to Chris Kraus' "Four Minutes", a drama about elderly piano teacher who trains a young convict at a women's penitentiary.

"Four Minutes" was the surprise best film winner at this year's German Film Awards, the nation's top film honors. Star Monica Bleibtreu won the best actress nod for her portrayal of the bitter, elderly piano teacher.

Senator's U.S. distribution arm was launched earlier this year. The first film Senator plans to release in the U.S. is Jonathan Levine's teen horror title, "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane", which is scheduled for a spring bow.

BERLIN -- Chris Kraus' "Four Minutes" was the surprise winner of the Lola for best film at the 2007 German Film Awards, held Friday night in Berlin.

The story of an elderly piano teacher who trains a young convict at a women's penitentiary, "Four Minutes" beat out Tom Tykwer's opulent epic "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" for the top prize.

Veteran actress Monica Bleibtreu won the Lola for her tour-de-force performance as the piano teacher in "Four Minutes". Bleibtreu accepted the prize on her 63rd birthday and to a standing ovation from the crowd of German film professionals.

The other big surprise Friday night was "Grave Decisions".

A small, low-budget comedy shot in an almost-incomprehensible Bavarian dialect, "Grave Decisions" won four Lolas, including best director for first-timer Marcus H. Rosenmueller and the runner-up Silver Lola for best film.

"Perfume" also won a Silver Lola, but it was in the technical categories where Tykwer's tale of a scent-obsessed serial killer sniffed at the competition.

"Perfume" swept the technical awards, taking Lolas for Frank Griebe's cinematography, Alexander Brenner's editing, Pierre-Yves Gayraud's costume design and Uli Hanisch's sets as well as the golden statuette for best sound design.

• Last year The Lives of Others cleaned up the "German Oscars", with eight nominations apiece, this year we find a tight race between Tom Tykwer's take on the Patrick Suskind novel a prison drama by helmer Chris Kraus. Perfume - The Story of a Murderer got a theatrical release stateside in late December. The Golden and Silver Lolas will be presented in a gala ceremony in Berlin on May 4. Here are the noms:Best Feature Film Emma's Bliss (dir: Sven Taddicken)The Counterfeiters (dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky)Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer (dir: Tom Tykwer)Four Minutes (dir: Chris Kraus)Grave Decisions (dir: Marcus H. Rosenmueller)Winter Journey (dir: Hans Steinbichler)Best Documentary The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez (dir: Heidi Specogna)Working Man's Death (dir: Michael Glawogger)Best Children's and Youth Film Hände Weg Vom Mississippi (dir: Detlev Buck)The Cloud (dir: Gregor Schnitzler)Best Direction

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BERLIN -- There is no clear favorite for this year's German Film Prizes, the Lolas, as several films picked up multiple nominations Friday.

Tom Tykwer's opulent story of a scent-obsessed serial killer, "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer," and Chris Kraus' low-budget drama "Four Minutes" led the nominations with eight each, including mentions in the best picture and best director categories.

Close behind was Stefan Ruzowitzky's "The Counterfeiters", the true story of concentration camp inmates who were forced to forge money to help finance the Nazi war machine. It received seven Lola nominations, missing out in the best director category but picking up a nom Karl Markovics' starmaking turn as a Jewish con-man and expert forger caught between his conscience and his instinct for survival.

The best actor category will see Markovics go up against two established German actors at the top of their game -- Josef Bierbichler, for his caustic performance in Hans Steinbichler's "Winter Journey", and Juergen Vogel, nominated for "The Free Will", in which he plays a serial rapist trying to resist his urges.

25-year-old Hannah Herzsprung proved she has successfully made the jump from TV to film with two Lola nominations -- a best acting nom for her feature debut in "Four Minutes" and a best supporting mention for her performance in "Life Actually". In the best actress category, Herzsprung will face off with her "Four Minutes" co-star Monica Bleibtreu.

There is no newcomer of the year Lola, but if there were, it would likely go to first-time director Marcus H. Rosenmueller. His debut, the black comedy "Grave Decisions", received five nominations, including best picture and best director, while his follow-up film, the bobsled laffer "Heavyweights", snagged a Lola nomination for best costume design.

COLOGNE, Germany -- "Grave Decisions", a quirky comedy about childhood, religion and death from first-time director Marcus H. Rosenmueller was the big winner at the 28th annual Bavarian Film Awards, taking the best film and newcomer awards.

The comedy, in which the actors speak in almost incomprehensible Bavarian accents, was a sleeper hit in Germany, where it earned more than $10 million at the boxoffice.

The literary adaptation "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer," which earned five times that in Germany alone, took the best director nod for helmer Tom Tykwer and best set design for Uli Hanisch's recreation of 18th-century Paris.

Chris Kraus' "Four Minutes", which already has scooped several international awards, including top honors at the Shanghai International Film Festival, took home three Bavarian Film Awards Friday night -- best script for Kraus and acting nods for stars Monica Bleibtreu and Hannah Herzsprung. Herzsprung won in the best newcomer category.

Bleibtreu shared her best actress award with another German vet, Katharina Thalbach, who was honored for her starring performance in Volker Schloendorff's "Strike", in which she plays a nearly illiterate woman who becomes one of the founders of Poland's Solidarity union.

COLOGNE, Germany -- German romantic comedy specialist Doris Doerrie ("The Fischer and His Wife") and art-house favorite Hans-Christian Schmid ("Requiem") are returning to familiar ground for their next projects.

Doerrie received €300,000 ($384,000) in production subsidies from Berlin's Medienboard on Monday for her upcoming project "Hamani". Monica Bleibtreu, Elmar Wepper and Nadja Uhl star in the feature from Olga Film, which Berlin distributor Majectic has picked up for local release.

Schmid, whose "Requiem" won a Silver Bear in Berlin and four German Film Lolas, received €170,000 ($218,000) in development funding from the Medienboard for a slate of seven projects at his Berlin-based 23/5 shingle.