Lars Buechel's Jetzt Oder Nie won the audience award at this year's Kinofest Luenen (November 16-19).

The comedy, about three elderly ladies who decide to rob a bank in order to finance a cruise, received DM10,000 in cash from sponsors and DM5,000 in subtitling costs from the German Federal Film Board. It will be presented at San Francisco's Berlin and Beyond festival, which takes place January 18-25, 2001.

The award for best editing, given out by German film magazine Der Schnitt, went to Bettina Boehler for Die Innere Sicherheit. The jury, which included, among others, incoming Berlin festival chief Dieter Kosslick and director Dominick Graf, lauded Boehler's minimalist approach to Christian Petzold's drama about a young girl on the run with her ex-terrorist parents.

Cinema entrepreneur and festival head Gerd Politt announced tentative plans to expand the festival next year, contingent on the completion of his new five-screen multiplex in Luenen.