“Oh Boy” beats “Cloud Atlas” at German Film Academy Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - Oh Boy, a low-budget black and white film from first time director Jan-Ole Gerster, has beaten the $100 million epic Cloud Atlas to win Best Film at the Lolas, Germany's version of the Oscars, The Hollywood Reporter said.

This year the awards were set up as a David vs. Goliath battle between the epic Cloud Atlas with its cast of Hollywood stars -- including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Hugh Grant -- and Oh Boy, a low-budget drama from a first-time director.

In the end, it was a draw. Oh Boy took the top honors, including best film, best director for first-timer Gerster and best actor for star Tom Schilling, for his pitch-perfect performance as an aimless twenty-something wandering the streets of Berlin. Gerster also took the best screenplay Lola for his nearly plotless script, which plays out over a single day. Oh Boy's jazz-heavy soundtrack also snatched the Lola for best score (for singer/songwriter Cherilyn MacNeil and the band The Major Minors)

But Cloud Atlas nearly swept the technical awards, winning for best cinematography (for John Toll and Frank Griebe), production design (Uli Hanisch and Hugh Bateup), make up (Daniel Parker and Jeremy Woodhead), costumes (Kym Barrett and Pierre-Yves Gayraud) and editing (Alexander Berner).

One of the few tech categories not to go to Cloud Atlas was for best sound design, which went to Christian Bischoff, Uwe Haußig and Johannes Konecny for their evocative soundscape to Julian Roman Pölsler's psychological drama The Wall.