Katyn from veteran director Andrzej Wajda was the big winner at yesterday's  awards ceremony of the Orly or "Eagle" Awards, the Polish national film prizes. The film recounts the harrowing events of the Katyn massacre, in which many Polish soldiers were killed by the Soviet army, a fact that was subsequently denied when Moscow became the de-facto ruler of the country after WWII ended. The Polish Film Academy gave a total of six awards to the film, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Danuta Stenka. The award for Best Director, however, went not to Wajda but to Andrzej Jakimowski for his sophomore feature Sztuczki (Tricks). The film, a Kieslowskian tale about two young siblings who make bets with fate, also won the Audience Award as well as the Best Supporting Actor category for Tomasz Sapryk, who plays the father of the two children.

The nominations for the German national film awards, the Lolas, were announced on Friday. Kirschblüten - Hanami (Cherry Blossoms) from Doris Dörrie led with six nominations and Fatih Akin's Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven) followed closely with five. Both films deal with a duo of deaths. The other nominees in the Best Film category are Christian Petzold's existential drama Yella; Ralf Westhoff's speeddating comedy Shoppen; Dennis Gansel's Die Welle (The Wave), a drama about an experimental neo-nazi movement, and Robert Talheim's contemporary Auschwitz romance Am Ende kommen Touristen. Akin and Dörrie are both also nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Director, with Christian Petzold taking the third Best Director nomination and Ralf Westhoff the third Best Screenplay nomination.