FlorianHenckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives Of Others (Das Leben Der Anderen)was the big winner at this year's German Film Awards in Berlin.

The Stasithriller picked up seven Golden Lolas for best film, best direction, best leadactor (Ulrich Muehe), best supporting actor (Ulrich Tukur), best productiondesign (Silke Buhr), best cinematography (Hagen Bogdanski), and best screenplay(Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck).

Producedby Munich/Berlin-based Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion, von Donnersmarck's featuredebut had been nominated in 11 categories. It has also proved a box-officesuccess for Buena Vista International with more than $7.1m (5.5m Euros) takenso far and will have its international market premiere for Beta Cinema inCannes next week.

The otherbig favourite for this year's Lolas - Hans-Christian Schmid's Berlinalecompetition film Requiem - received five prizes: a SilverLola for best film and Golden Lolas for best lead actress (Sandra Hueller),best supporting actress (Imogen Kogge), best costume design (Bettina Marx), andbest sound design (Lars Ginzel, Dirk Jacob, Marc Parisotto, Martin Steyer).

AnotherBerlinale film, Detlev Buck's hard-hitting urban drama Tough Enough(Knallhart) also took home a Silver Lola for best film aswell as theGolden Lolas for best score (Bert Wrede) and best editing(Dirk Grau), while Byambasuren Davaa's The Cave Of The Yellow Dog (DieHoehle Des Gelben Hundes) received the Golden Lola for bestchildren's and youth film and Ali Samadi Ahadi and Oliver Stoltz's LostChildren the distinction for best documentary.

Anemotional highlight during the award ceremony was the presentation of theGerman Film Academy's Honorary Award to the 87-year-old talent agent ErnaBaumbauer who was serenaded onto the stage by two of her charges, Ulrich Tukurand Sebastian Koch, to a standing ovation from the 2,000-strong audience.

There wassome disappointment that Andreas Dresen's comedy Summer In Berlin (SommerVorm Balkon) went home empty-handed, especially sinceveteran screenwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase had been tipped by many as a favouritefor the screenplay Lola.

This yearmarked the second time that the 750-strong membership of the German FilmAcademy voted for the winners of the German Film Awards with prize-money ofmore than $3.6m (2.8m Euros) provided by the State Minister for Culture andMedia Bernd Neumann.