75th German Film Awards: "September 5" is the winner of the evening

The 75th German Film Awards were presented in Berlin on Friday evening. The main prize for Best Feature Film went to the thriller "September 5"—by far the evening's winner. The silver award went to the drama "The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree," filmed secretly in Iran, and the bronze Lola went to the film biography "With Love, Your Hilde," about Hilde Coppi.

"September 5," a film about the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, scooped a total of nine awards, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. The film also won the award for Best Supporting Actress, specifically Leonie Benesch.

Best Actress: Liv Lisa Fries

Liv Lisa Fries won Best Actress for her role in "With Love, Your Hilde." Misagh Zare won Best Actor for his performance in "Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree," beating out Sam Riley, who was nominated twice in the category this year.

Godehard Giese, who appears in "Sad Jokes," was honored as Best Supporting Actor. "Petra Kelly - Act Now" won Best Documentary, and "Akiko, the Flying Monkey" received the Lola for Best Children's Film. This year's honorary award went to casting director An Dorthe Braker. She found the perfect cast for films such as "Downfall," "Run Lola Run," and "The Baader Meinhof Complex." Christian Friedel hosted the evening, which was political and emotional at times.

Death of Margot Friedländer shocks filmmakers

The sudden death of Margot Friedländer, in particular, caused consternation during the ceremony at the Theater am Potsdamer Platz. Pianist Igor Levit, who was actually supposed to "only" present the award for Best Film Music, broke the news of the death to the audience and delivered a tearful, moving speech in honor of the deceased Holocaust survivor. After a minute's silence, he addressed the standing audience of filmmakers, saying, among other things: "She was a great miracle. Her existence, her life, was a call to do her justice. Her no longer real existence among us is an even greater call to do her justice." Most of those present had tears in their eyes.

A year earlier, Friedländer herself had appeared on stage at the German Film Awards and delivered a speech in favor of social cohesion. Her death also inspired singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann to deliver a speech during his performance. He declared that, given the Allied liberation of Germany from the Nazis, he could not be a pacifist. "Anyone who isn't afraid is an idiot," he said before launching into his song "Don't let yourself become hardened."

The film awards stage was used for many other political commentaries that evening. Host Friedel emphasized the importance of the arts right from the start: "Empathy is strength, and art and cinema can help with that, and that's also one reason why we should never cut back on culture." Iris Berben said in her laudatory speech for the best documentary film: "We all have to be much louder." And the new Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, took a stand on Donald Trump's planned tariffs on foreign films, saying: "All we need is for him to introduce tariffs on jokes tomorrow so people stop making fun of him."

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