Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film THE LIVES OF OTHERS (DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN) has received the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film" from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood.

"This award is an honour and the greatest compliment both for me as well as the fantastic work of so many people who worked on this film and gave their best. The German cinema is full of power and has experienced an enormous upswing in recent years. I am very happy and grateful to be part of this success story which still feels like a dream."

The award reflects the continuing success of the German cinema in Hollywood and is the third OSCAR for Germany after NOWHERE IN AFRICA (NIRGENDWO IN AFRIKA) by Caroline Link (2002) and THE TIN DRUM (DIE BLECHTROMMEL) by Volker Schloendorff (1979). Germany now moves up in the OSCAR statistics with a total of 14 nominations to fourth place behind France, Italy and Spain.

Also nominated were: WATER by Deepa Mehta (Canada), AFTER THE WEDDING by Susanne Bier (Denmark), PAN'S LABYRINTH by Guillermo del Toro (Mexico) and DAYS OF GLORY by Rachid Bouchareb (Algeria).

THE LIVES OF OTHERS (DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN), a production by Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion/Munich (producers: Max Wiedemann, Quirin Berg) in co-production with BR/Munich, ARTE/Strasbourg and Creado Film/Constance was funded by the German Federal Film Board (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The film, which was sold worldwide by Beta Cinema, is among the most successful German film productions of recent years, as shown by the latest openings in France (more than 130,000 admissions in the first week), Spain (over 35,000 admissions on the opening weekend), Denmark (120,000 admissions since the film's opening), and USA (the best US theatrical opening for a German film in a subtitled print with a box office of US$ 277,000 on the opening weekend [February 9] for Sony Pictures Classics) as well as the countless international awards for the film.