IMAGO - European Federation of Cinematographers

GERMANY - LOLA AWARDS 2008

Best Cinematography to Benedict Neuenfels, BVK/ AAC

German Film Academy has presented this year's 58 th edition of German Film Awards (Deutscher Filmpreis) known as the Lolas, in Berlin , last April 25. Best Cinematography awards was granted to Benedict Neuenfels by “Liebesleben/ Love Life” directed by Maria Schrader.

Benedict Neuenfels (1966, Switzerland ) despite his first contact with film industry took place in 1982 he only entered film school in 1988, at 22 years old. That same year his experience as cinematographer began. Being Hans Neuenfels' son (an active writer, director and opera stage director) his first collaborations are by his father side (1988, 1990). Actually, their 1988 tv collaboration won him a Honorable Mention by German Camera Award. In 1994 he wins another award by the documentary “Bilder von anderswo/ Pictures of a Kingdom” directed by Ralf Zöller with won he will work in television during the 90s. Also that year he graduates from Berlin film school.

Between 1994-1999 Neuenfels works almost exclusively for television winning a total of three awards out of six nominations.

From 2000 on he starts working more regularly in film. His first film title “Lost Killers” (2000) directed by Dito Tsintsadze wins him his first German Camera Award for a feature film collaboration. “Olgas Sommer/ Olgas's Summer” by Nina Grosse (2002) gets him a German Camera Award nomination and two years later, working on a film for tv, again with Nina Grosse, Neuenfels gets two nominations for “21 Liebesbriefe” (2004).

In 2006 he does two feature films: “Der Rote Kakadu/ The Red Cockatoo” (2006) with long time partner Dominik Graf (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002); and “Der Mann von der Botschaft/ The Man from the Embassy” (2006) by Dito Tsintsadze.

“Die Fälscher/ The Counterfeiter” (2007) by Stefan Ruzowitzky besides winning Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, got NEUENFELS his first German Film Awards nomination.

Maria Schrader's “Liebesleben/ Love Life” (2007), well-known German actress making her director debut, won NEUENFELS an award by Bavarian Film Awards and now also his first Lola by German Film Awards.