Berlin 2012: Andreas Dresen’s ‘Stopped on Track’ Wins German Critics’ Prize

BERLIN  - Germany’s film critics have picked Stopped on Track, Andreas Dresen’s harrowing but humorous look at a man dying of cancer, as the best German film of the year. Stopped on Track star Milan Peschel took the best actor nod for his portrayal of Frank Lange, an ordinary man diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.

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Stopped on Track premiered in Cannes last year, where it won best film in the Un Certain Regard section. The social drama is screening at the Berlin Film Festival as part of the German cinema section Lola@Berlinale. Dresen's latest, the political documentary Henryk from the Back Row, premiered Sunday in Berlin’s Panorama Dokumente section.

Wim Wenders’ Oscar-nominated 3D dance film Pina won the film critics’ prize for best documentary. The portrait of the life and work of the late choreographer Pina Bausch had its world premiere at the Berlinale last year.

As did culture-clash comedy Almanya from director Yasemin Samdereli, which won the best feature film debut honor as well as the best screenplay prize. Samdereli co-wrote Almanya with her sister Nesrin, basing the comedy on their family’s own experiences as Turkish immigrants to Germany in the 1950s.

Other winners included actress Sandra Hüller, who won for her performance in Jan  Schomburg’s Above Us Only Sky, the winner of the European Cinemas Prize at last year’s Berlin fest; and Chris Kraus’ Baltic period epic The Poll Diaries, which won best cinematography (Daniela Knapp) and best editing (Toni Froschhammer).

The 2012 German film critics awards were handed out at a ceremony in Berlin Monday night.