Film From Behind Bars

A griping drama about an elderly piano teacher's relationship with a young inmate, "Four Minutes" won the German Film Prize's golden Lola and received 500,000 euros ($680,500) on Friday night.

"Three nights ago, I dreamt about being here on stage. It's wonderful when dreams come true," said Meike Kordes, who co-produced the film with her sister Alexandra.

The movie beat out Tom Tykwer's film version of the Patrick Sueskind bestseller "Das Parfum" ("Perfume: The Story of a Murderer"), which took a Silver Lola at the award ceremony in the Berlin Palais am Funkturm, attended by some 2,000 invited guests from the film industry on Friday evening.

Another Silver Lola went to "Wer früher stirbt ist länger tot" ("Grave Decisions") by Marcus H Rosenmüller, which also took the prizes for best direction, best script and best music.

"Das Parfum" received five more prizes, for best camerawork, best editing and best costume design among others.

Golden birthday present

Best Actor went to Josef Bierbichler for his role in the drama "Winterreise" ("Winter Journey"), while Bleibtreu won best actress honors.

"This is unbelievable," Bleibtreu said. "This is going to be a slightly different acceptance speech because today is my birthday."

Hannah Herzsprung, Bleibtreu's co-star in "Four Minutes," won a Silver Lola for her role in "Life Actually."

The German Film Prize awards are the top awards in German cinema. The German government provides a total of 3 million euros ($4 million) in funding.

German films made up about 26 percent of the country's market share last year, up from 19 percent in 2005. Last year's winner, "The Lives of Others" also won Best Foreign Film honors at the US Academy Awards.