Andreas Dresen's Grill Point (Halbe Treppe) has picked up nominations in three of the four categories for this year's German Film Critics Award.

Grill Point, which received the jury's Grand Prix at the last Berlinale and a Silver Lola at the German Film Awards, has been nominated in the Best Feature Film category against Tom Tykwer's Berlinale opening film Heaven, while the ensemble of four lead actors - Axel Prahl and Thorsten Merten, Gabriela Maria Schmeide and Steffi Kuehnert - have been jointly nominated in the Best Lead Actor and Lead Actress categories.

The full nomination lineup is:

Best Feature Film
Grill Point - dir: Andreas Dresen
Heaven - dir: Tom Tykwer

Best Feature Debut
Drei Stern Rot - dir: Olaf Kaiser
Vaya Con Dios - dir: Zoltan Spirandelli
White Noise - dir: Hans Weingartner

Best Lead Actor
Ensemble quartet from Grill Point - dir: Andreas Dresen
Daniel Bruehl from Vaya Con Dios (Spirandelli) and White Noise (Weingartner)
Juergen Vogel from Scherbentanz (Chris Kraus) and Nackt (Doris Doerrie)

Best Lead Actress
Ensemble quartet from Grill Point - dir: Andreas Dresen
Martina Gedeck from Mostly Martha (Sandra Nettelbeck)
Nadja Uhl from Scherbentanz (Kraus) and Was Tun, Wenn's Brennt (Gregor Schnitzler)

The Awards of German Film Criticism will be presented at the Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival in Saarbruecken on January 16.