# German Film Award for Best Fiction Film

The German Film Award for Best Fiction Film (German: Bester Spielfilm) is the main award given for best German film at the annual Deutscher Filmpreis awards, the German national film awards. It has been held annually since 1951 in varying formats. As the constitution said the prize was only awarded, if outstanding achievement was given, not every year a film was declared the winner of the prize. For the first three years, the Golden Candlestick was the highest honour for this category. It was then replaced by the Golden Bowl as a Challenge Prize, that would be passed to the winner of the next occasion, however as it was not given out for 17 years, the prize was abandoned for good in 1996. Regular prize winners receive a Film Award in Gold whereas the runners-up receive a silver award. A bronze award for the second runner-up was introduced in 2008. On some occasions, no film received the gold prize and a winner of the Silver Award was declared the best film of the year.

## List of winning films
### 1951–1986

From 1951 to 1986 the prize was awarded by a commission which selected the best German feature film released in the previous 12 months.
| Year | English title | Original title | Director(s) | Trophy received |
| 1951 | Two Times Lotte | Das doppelte Lottchen | Josef von Báky | Golden Candlestick |
| 1952 | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. |
| 1953 | Nights on the Road aka The Mistress | Nachts auf den Straßen | Rudolf Jugert | Golden Candlestick |
| 1954 | No Way Back | Weg ohne Umkehr | Victor Vicas | Golden Bowl |
| 1955 | Canaris: Master Spy | Canaris | Alfred Weidenmann | Golden Bowl |
| 1956 | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. |
| 1957 | The Captain from Köpenick | Der Hauptmann von Köpenick | Helmut Käutner | Golden Bowl |
| 1958 | The Devil Strikes at Night | Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam | Robert Siodmak | Golden Bowl |
| 1959 | Arms and the Man | Helden | Franz Peter Wirth | Golden Bowl |
| 1960 | The Bridge | Die Brücke | Bernhard Wicki | Golden Bowl |
| 1961 | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. |
| 1962 | The Bread of Those Early Years | Das Brot der frühen Jahre | Herbert Vesely | Film Award in Silver |
| 1963 | The Endless Night [de] | Die endlose Nacht | Will Tremper | Film Award in Silver |
| 1963 | The Lightship | Das Feuerschiff | Ladislao Vajda | Film Award in Silver |
| 1964 | The River Line | Kennwort... Reiher | Rudolf Jugert | Film Award in Gold |
| 1965 | The House in Karp Lane | Das Haus in der Karpfengasse | Kurt Hoffmann | Film Award in Gold |
| 1966 | Young Törless | Der junge Törless | Volker Schlöndorff | Film Award in Gold |
| 1967 | Yesterday Girl | Abschied von gestern | Alexander Kluge | Film Award in Gold |
| 1968 | Tattoo | Tätowierung | Johannes Schaaf | Film Award in Gold |
| 1969 | Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed | Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos | Alexander Kluge | Film Award in Gold |
| 1970 | Katzelmacher | Katzelmacher | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Film Award in Gold |
| 1970 | Malatesta | Malatesta | Peter Lilienthal | Film Award in Gold |
| 1971 | First Love | First Love | Maximilian Schell | Film Award in Gold |
| 1971 | Lenz [de] | Lenz [de] | George Moorse | Film Award in Gold |
| 1972 | Trotta | Trotta | Johannes Schaaf | Film Award in Gold |
| 1972 | Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King | Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Film Award in Gold |
| 1973 | The Experts | Die Sachverständigen | Norbert Kückelmann | Golden Bowl |
| 1974 | The Pedestrian | Der Fußgänger | Maximilian Schell | Golden Bowl |
| 1975 | Lina Braake | Lina Braake | Bernhard Sinkel | Film Award in Silver |
| 1976 | Calm Prevails Over the Country [de] | Es herrscht Ruhe im Land | Peter Lilienthal | Golden Bowl |
| 1977 | Heinrich [de] | Heinrich [de] | Helma Sanders-Brahms | Golden Bowl |
| 1978 | The Glass Cell | Die gläserne Zelle | Hans W. Geißendörfer | Film Award in Gold |
| 1979 | The Tin Drum | Die Blechtrommel | Volker Schlöndorff | Golden Bowl |
| 1980 | The Last Years of Childhood [de] | Die letzten Jahre der Kindheit | Norbert Kückelmann | Film Award in Silver |
| 1981 | A Lot of Bills to Pay [de] | Jede Menge Kohle | Adolf Winkelmann | Film Award in Gold |
| 1982 | Marianne and Juliane | Die bleierne Zeit | Margarethe von Trotta | Film Award in Gold |
| 1983 | The State of Things | Der Stand der Dinge | Wim Wenders | Film Award in Gold |
| 1984 | Where the Green Ants Dream | Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen | Werner Herzog | Film Award in Gold |
| 1985 | Colonel Redl | Oberst Redl | István Szabó | Film Award in Gold |

### 1986–present

| Year | English title | Original title | Director(s) |
| 1986 | Rosa Luxemburg | Rosa Luxemburg | Margarethe von Trotta |
| 1987 | No Golden Award was given. | No Golden Award was given. | No Golden Award was given. |
| 1988 | Wings of Desire | Der Himmel über Berlin | Wim Wenders |
| 1989 | Yasemin | Yasemin | Hark Bohm |
| 1990 | Last Exit to Brooklyn | Letzte Ausfahrt Brooklyn | Uli Edel |
| 1991 | Malina | Malina | Werner Schroeter |
| 1992 | Schtonk! | Schtonk! | Helmut Dietl |
| 1993 | No Golden Award was given. | No Golden Award was given. | No Golden Award was given. |
| 1994 | Kaspar Hauser [de] | Kaspar Hauser [de] | Peter Sehr |
| 1995 | Maybe... Maybe Not | Der bewegte Mann | Sönke Wortmann |
| 1996 | Deathmaker | Der Totmacher | Romuald Karmakar |
| 1997 | Rossini [de] | Rossini – oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief | Helmut Dietl |
| 1998 | The Harmonists | Comedian Harmonists | Joseph Vilsmaier |
| 1999 | Run Lola Run | Lola rennt | Tom Tykwer |
| 2000 | No Place to Go | Die Unberührbare | Oskar Roehler |
| 2001 | The State I Am In | Die innere Sicherheit | Christian Petzold |
| 2002 | Nowhere in Africa | Nirgendwo in Afrika | Caroline Link |
| 2003 | Good Bye, Lenin! | Good Bye, Lenin! | Wolfgang Becker |
| 2004 | Head-On | Gegen die Wand | Fatih Akın |
| 2005 | Go for Zucker | Alles auf Zucker! | Dani Levy |
| 2006 | The Lives of Others | Das Leben der Anderen | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck |
| 2007 | Four Minutes | Vier Minuten | Chris Kraus |
| 2008 | The Edge of Heaven | Auf der anderen Seite | Fatih Akın |
| 2009 | John Rabe | John Rabe | Florian Gallenberger |
| 2010 | The White Ribbon | Das weiße Band | Michael Haneke |
| 2011 | Vincent Wants to Sea | Vincent will Meer | Ralf Huettner |
| 2012 | Stopped on Track | Halt auf freier Strecke | Andreas Dresen |
| 2013 | A Coffee in Berlin | Oh Boy | Jan-Ole Gerster |
| 2014 | Home from Home | Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht | Edgar Reitz |
| 2015 | Victoria | Victoria | Sebastian Schipper |
| 2016 | The People vs. Fritz Bauer | Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer | Lars Kraume |
| 2017 | Toni Erdmann | Toni Erdmann | Maren Ade |
| 2018 | 3 Days in Quiberon | 3 Tage in Quiberon | Emily Atef |
| 2019 | Gundermann | Gundermann | Andreas Dresen |
| 2020 | System Crasher | Systemsprenger | Nora Fingscheidt |
| 2021 | I'm Your Man | Ich bin dein Mensch | Maria Schrader |
| 2022 | Dear Thomas | Lieber Thomas | Andreas Kleinert |
| 2023 | The Teachers' Lounge | Das Lehrerzimmer | İlker Çatak |
| 2024 | Dying | Sterben | Matthias Glasner |