Sebastian Grobler’s soccer drama Der Ganz Grosse Traum has become the first-ever title to receive a Wild Card nomination for best film at Germany’s top cinema honors, the Lolas. The feature, which stars Daniel Bruhl as the 19th century English teacher who brought the sport of “football” to Germany, was snubbed on the initial long-list of Lola nominees but received a flood of write-in ballots from members of the German Film Academy. Soccer Film 'Der Ganz Grosse Traum' gets Wild Card to German Best Film Nom

- Sebastian Grobler’s soccer drama Der Ganz Grosse Traum has become the first-ever title to receive a Wild Card nomination for best film at Germany’s top cinema honors, the Lolas.

The feature, which stars Daniel Bruhl as the 19th century English teacher who brought the sport of “football” to Germany, was snubbed on the initial long-list of Lola nominees but received a flood of write-in ballots from members of the German Film Academy.
In addition to the best film nom, Der Ganz Grosse Traum received Lola noms for best cinematography and best costume design.
The German Film Academy’s nomination procedure allows members to write-in overlooked titles not on the original long list of nominees.
“This is a new, democratic approach and I think it’s great how its given an outsider film like this a chance,” said actor Burghart Klaussner, a German Film Actor board member who also stars in Der Ganz Grosse Traum.
While last year’s Lola Awards were dominated by Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, which won seven honors including best film, the riches were spread more evenly over the 2011 Lola nominees. While Tom Tykwer’s Three leads the pack with six nominations, several films -- including Chris Krause’s The Poll Diaries, Yasemin Samdereli’s Almanya, Philipp Stolzl’s Young Goethe In Love, Andreas Veiel’s If Not Us, Who and Florian Cossen’s The Day I Was Not Born all picked up multiple noms. A clear sweep this year appears unlikely.
“Last year, because the focus was so much on The White Ribbon, a lot of films fell through the cracks,” said German Film Academy president, the actress Iris Berben. “This year the nominations show the German film industry in its entirety.
“We have a huge range in German cinema, that’s something that’s not often recognized,” said actress and Film Academy board member Christiane Paul, pointing to this year’s best film nominees, which run from the immigration comedy Almanya to Tykwer’s urban dramedy Three to Andreas Veiel’s 60s terrorist drama If Not Us, Who?.
The 2011 German Film Awards will be handed out in Berlin April 8.