Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's European Film Award-winning The Lives Of Others has picked up nominations in seven of the nine categories for the 2006 German Film Critics' Award.

The Stasi thriller, which is Germany's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at next month's Academy Awards, has been nominated in the following categories: Feature Film, Feature Debut, Actress, Actor, Screenplay, Cinemaography, and Editing.

Von Donnersmarck's debut won five Bavarian Film Awards a year ago and seven Golden Lolas from a staggering 11 nominations at the German Film Awards last May. The Buena Vista release has been seen by over 1.6m cinema-goers in Germany.

Meanwhile, four nominations - Feature Debut, Music, Editing and Cinematography - went to Bavarian director Marcus H. Rosenmueller for his feature debut Grave Decisions (Wer Frueher Stirbt, Ist Laenger Tot) which was the surprise box-office hit of 2006 with over 1.1m admissions.

The names of the winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony held during next month's Berlinale.

The nominees are:

FEATURE FILM

The Lives Of Others (dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

The Free Will (dir: Matthias Glasner)

Requiem (dir: Hans-Christian Schmid)

Longing (dir: Valeska Grisebach)

Summer in Berlin (dir: Andreas Dresen)

FEATURE FILM DEBUT

The Lives Of Others (dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

Mondscheinkinder (dir: Manuela Stacke)

Pingpong (dir: Matthias Luthardt)

Grave Decisions (dir: Marcus H. Rosenmuller)

ACTRESS

Martina Gedeck (Sommer 04, The Lives Of Others)

Sandra Hüller (Requiem)

Nadja Uhl (Summer in Berlin )

ACTOR

Josef Bierbichler (Winter Journey)

Ulrich Mühe (The Lives Of Others)

Jürgen Vogel (The Free Will, Emma's Bliss)

MUSIC

Hitler Cantata (Peter Gotthardt)

Tough Enough (Bert Wrede)

Pingpong (Matthias Petsche)

Warchild (Konstantia Gourzi)

Grave Decisions (Gerd Baumann)

DOCUMENTARY

Behind the Couch (dir: Veit Helmer)

The Short Life Of Jose Antonio Guitierrez (dir: Heidi Specogna)

Deutschland. Ein Sommermarchen (dir: Sonke Wortmann)

Gernstls Reisen - Auf der Suche nach dem Gluck (dir: Franz X. Gernstl)

Last To Know (dir: Marc Bauder, Dorte Franke)

EDITING

The Lives Of Others (Patricia Rommel)

Emma's Bliss (Andreas Wodraschke)

Lucy (Bettina Bohler)

Urlaub vom Leben (Pascal Schmit)

Grave Decisions (Susanne Hartmann)

SCREENPLAY

The Lives Of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

Tough Enough (Zoran Drvenkar, Gregor Tressnow)

Summer in Berlin (Wolfgang Kohlhaase)

Urlaub vom Leben (Janko Haschemian)

Urmel aus dem Eis (Oliver Huzly, Reinhard Klooss, Sven Severin)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Lives Of Others ( Hagen Bogdanski)

Digging Belladonna (Frank Griebe)

The Last Train (Joseph Vilsmaier, Helmfried Kober)

Emma's Bliss (Daniela Knapp)

Grave Decisions (Stefan Biebl)

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