With less than three weeks to go to the Berlin International Film Festival, Official Competition entry A Map Of The Heart (Der Felsen) was amongst the main winners at this year's Bavarian Film Awards.

Directed by Dominik Graf, the melodrama won the producer prize for MTM Medien & Television Muenchen, which was also lauded for its production of Caroline Link's Nirgendwo In Afrika. A Map Of The Heart's Caroline Eichhorn won best leading actress for her performance as a young woman who falls in love with a juvenile delinquent during a holiday on Corsica.

Peter Sehr's Love The Hard Way won best direction, while Franziska Buch's Emil And The Detectives took the prize for best screenplay. Zoltan Spirandelli's feature debut Vaya Con Dios was another of the night's big winners, taking the new director prize and the new actor and actress prizes for Chiara Schoras and Daniel Bruehl respectively. The film also picked up the new producer prize for Dieter Ulrich Aselmann's d.i.e. Film.

Kinowelt's family film Das Sams won the best leading actor award for Ulrich Noethen and best children's film, which was given to its director Ben Verbong. Andres Veiel's Black Box Germany won best documentary.

Local blockbuster Der Schuh Des Manitu won a special prize, having been seen by more 10.9m cinema goers in Germany alone. The prize went to Michael "Bully" Herbig for his overall achievement as director, the leading actor, co-author and co-producer. The Western parody also received a newly created audience award.