7 nominations for Filmstiftung-backed films at the European Film Awards

• European Film 2016, European Director 2016 and European Screenwriter 2016 for Maren Ade, European Actress 2016 for Sandra Hüller, and European Actor 2016 for Peter Simonischek
• Burghart Klaußner nominated in the category of European Actor 2016 for „The People vs. Fritz Bauer"
• „Look Who’s Back" ("Er ist wieder da") previously nominated for the category of European Comedy 2016
• Ceremony for the 29th European Film Awards to be held in Wroclaw on 10 December

„Toni Erdmann" by Maren Ade is the hot favourite in the race for the 29th European Film Awards. The Filmstiftung-backed tragicomedy was nominated for no less than five categories: European Film 2016, European Director 2016 and European Screenwriter 2016 as well as nominations for Sandra Hüller (European Actress 2016) and Peter Simonischek (European Actor 2016). Burghart Klaußner was also nominated in the same category for another Filmstiftung-backed film, „The People vs. Fritz Bauer". The Filmstiftung-backed production „Look Who’s Back" by David Wnendt had previously been nominated in the category for European Comedy 2016.

The nominations were announced by the European Film Academy (EFA) at the weekend during the European Film Festival in Seville. The 29th European Film Awards will be presented on Saturday, 10 December, in Wroclaw, one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2016.

„Maren Ade’s masterpiece continues its success story and is the hot favourite in the race for the European Film Awards. Five nominations for‚Toni Erdmann‘ are an acknowledgment of the universal power of this very special father-daughter story", says Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. „Congratulations to all of the nominees and the teams of „Toni Erdmann", „Fritz Bauer" and „Look Who’s Back". All the best for Wroclaw!"

„Toni Erdmann" is the only German film to be nominated for the main categories at this year’s awards. „Toni Erdmann" had already received a nomination for the new European University Film Award. The second largest number of nominations was amassed by Ken Loach’s „Ich, Daniel Blake" which received a total of four nominations. „Toni Erdmann" has been in the German cinemas since mid-July and has already taken more than 700,000 cinema-goers under its spell. The success story began last May in the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival where the film wowed the international audience. It won the prestigious FIPRESCI International Film Critics Prize there. The Cologne-based world sales company The Match Factory has sold the film to over 100 countries. And now Maren Ade’s exceptional film has been entered by Germany into the race for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film Oscar. „Toni Erdmann" is a production by Komplizen Film in co-production with coop99Filmproduktion and Missing Link Films. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is the main funder, supporting the film’s production and distribution with a total of 785,000 Euros. The other backers were MBB, FFFHSH, FFF, DFFF, FFA, BKM, ÖFI, Filmstandort Austria, Media and Eurimages. SWR, WDR and Arte came onboard the production as broadcasters, and NFP is the German distributor. Part of the film was shot Aachen, with Bucharest serving as another location.

„The People vs. Fritz Bauer" by Lars Kraume was the big winner at the German Film Awards earlier in the summer with a total of six Lolas, including the Golden Lola for Best Film. The co-production by zero one film and Terz Film, in association with broadcasters WDR, hr and ARTE, was supported by the Filmstiftung NRW with a total of almost 1.3 million Euros. Alamode released the film theatrically in autumn 2015, and approx. 270,000 cinema-goers have seen the drama about the public prosecutor Fritz Bauer to date.

David Wnendt’s Filmstiftung-backed satire „Look Who’s Back" was released theatrically by Constantin in autumn 2015 and had already posted two million admissions after just a few weeks. „Look Who’s Back" is a production by Mythos Film in co-production with Constantin Film. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW supported the film with 200,000 Euros, with additional backing coming from MBB, FFA and DFFF.

The European Film Academy’s 3,000-plus membership will now be voting on the final winners.