‘September 5’ Sweeps German Film Awards

September 5 took top honors at the German Film Awards, or Lolas, held in Berlin Friday night.

Tim Fehlbaum’s real-life thriller, based on the terrorist attacks on the 1972 Munich Olympics, picked up nine Lolas, including for best director, best editing, best cinematography, best sound design, best screenplay, best makeup and best production design.

Leonie Benesch won best supporting actress for her performance as a translator for the U.S. television network broadcasting the attacks live to the world. September 5 premiered at the Venice film festival last year before becoming an awards contender and landing a best original screenplay Oscar nomination for Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder and Alex David.

Accepting his best director prize, Fehlbaum praised his German team, and, with a side swipe at Donald Trump and his promised tariffs on “foreign films,” noted that “they can raise the tariffs as high as the want, there is not reason to make films anywhere else [than here].”

Wolfram Weimer, the new German culture minister, who presented the best film honor, also criticized Trump, calling the tariff proposal “absurd. The next thing he’ll introduce tariffs on jokes, so that people will stop making fun of him.”

Liv Lisa Fries won best actress for playing Hilde Coppi, a member of the left-wing anti-Nazi resistance group the Red Orchestra, in Andreas Dresen’s historic drama From Hilde, With Love. The film also took the bronze Lola for best film.

In a moving speech, Fries referenced the threat of resurgent far-right extremism in Germany.

“It’s getting serious,” she said. “This can’t happen again.”

Politics was a recurring theme at the awards ceremony in Berlin Friday night, with several winners referencing the dangers represented by the far-right AfD, which is surging in the polls, despite Germany’s domestic intelligence service classifying the party as extremist.

“Call them out and show yourselves,” German musician Igor Levit told the crowd in his tribute to Margot Friedländer, a Holocaust survivor who became the conscience of a nation, speaking about her experience in her many television and public appearances, and who died on Friday at the age of 103.

Best actor went to Missagh Zareh for his portrayal of an Iranian patriarch in Mohammad Rasoulof’s Oscar-nominated The Seed of the Sacred Fig. The film, which depicts an Iranian family torn apart by conflicting loyalties to an increasingly oppressive Tehran regime, was set up as a German-French co-production and shot in secret in Iran. The film also won the runner-up silver Lola for best film.

“Making this film was a miracle, but the miracle was the Iranian women, who made this film possible,” said Rasoulof, accepting his award. The director, who fled Iran last year, now lives in Berlin. He ended his speech with a call to “stand by us, stand by the people of Iran.”

Christian Friedel, star of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and part of the ensemble cast of the third season of The White Lotus, hosted the awards, showing off his talents as a song-and-dance man with his band Woods of Birnam.

A complete list of the winners of the 2025 German Film Awards follows.

Best Film

The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Mohammad Rasoulof, Mani Tilgner, Rozita Hendijanian (WINNER Best Film in Silver)
From Hilde, With Love – Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel, Regina Ziegler (WINNER Best Film in Bronze)
Islands – Maximilian Leo, Jonas Katzenstein
Köln 75 – Sol Bondy, Fred Burle
September 5 – Philipp Trauer, Thomas Wöbke, Tim Fehlbaum (WINNER Best Film in Gold)
Vena – Dietmar Güntsche, Martin Rohé

Best Documentary Film

Hollywoodgate – Talal Derki, Shane Boris, Odessa Rae, Ibrahim Nash’at
Petra Kelly – Act Now! – Birgit Schulz, Doris Metz (WINNER)
Riefenstahl – Sandra Maischberger, Andres Veiel

Best Children’s Film

Akiko, der fliegende Affe – Veit Helmer (WINNER)
Woodwalkers – Corinna Mehner, Carolin Dassel

Best Director

The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Mohammad Rasoulof
From Hilde, With Love – Andreas Dresen
September 5 – Tim Fehlbaum (WINNER)

Best Screenplay

The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Mohammad Rasoulof
From Hilde, With Love – Laila Stieler
September 5 – Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum (WINNER)

Best Actress

Liv Lisa Fries – From Hilde, With Love (WINNER)
Mala Emde – Köln 75
Emma Nova – Vena

Best Actor

Sam Riley – Cranko
Misagh Zare – The Seed of the Sacred Fig (WINNER)
Sam Riley – Islands

Best Supporting Actress

Anne Ratte-Polle – Bad Director
Niousha Akhshi – The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Leonie Benesch – September 5 (WINNER)

Best Supporting Actor

Alexander Scheer – From Hilde, With Love
Alexander Scheer – Köln 75
Godehard Giese – Sad Jokes (WINNER)

Best Cinematography

Cranko – Philipp Sichler
September 5 – Markus Förderer (WINNER)
Vena – Lisa Jilg

Best Editor

The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Andrew Bird
Köln 75 – Anja Siemens
September 5 – Hansjörg Weißbrich (WINNER)

Best Sound Design

The Light– Bernhard Joest-Däberitz, Frank Kruse, Matthias Lempert, Markus Stemler, Alexander Buck
Islands – Stefan Soltau, Thomas Kalbér, Tobias Fleig
September 5 – Lars Ginzel, Frank Kruse, Marc Parisotto, Marco Hanelt (WINNER)

Best Score

Islands – Dascha Dauenhauer (WINNER)
Kein Tier. So Wild. – Dascha Dauenhauer
September 5 – Lorenz Dangel

Best Production Design

Cranko – Astrid Poeschke
Hagen – Matthias Müsse, Nancy Vogel
September 5 – Julian R. Wagner, Melanie Raab (WINNER)

Best Costume Design

Cranko – Juliane Maier, Christian Röhrs (WINNER)
Hagen – Pierre-Yves Gayraud
From Hilde, With Love – Birgitt Kilian

Best Hair and Makeup

Hagen – Jeanette Latzelsberger, Gregor Eckstein
From Hilde, With Love – Grit Kosse, Uta Spikermann, Monika Münnich
September 5 – Sabine Schumann (WINNER)

Best Visual Effects

The Light– Robert Pinnow
Hagen – Jan Stoltz, Franzisca Puppe (WINNER)
Woodwalkers – Max Riess, Sven Martin, Bernie Kimbacher

Most Commercially Successful Film

School of Magical Animals 3– Sven Unterwaldt (Regie), Alexandra Kordes, Meike Kordes (Produktion) (WINNER)

Honorary Lola

An Dorthe Braker