ASKANIA AWARD
2019
The presentation of the ASKANIA AWARD has been a highlight among the many outstanding events in Berlin for 12 years now. In 2019, the award ceremony took place for the first time at the Wintergarten Varieté. On February 5, shortly before the Berlinale, numerous prominent representatives from the worlds of film, television, business and politics came together again to select the winners for the year 2019.
ASKANIA AWARD Winner 2019
Best Actor:
Michael Mendl
He is regarded as one of the most prominent actors in Germany. After his training at the Folkwang Drama School in Essen, the actor from Lünen was engaged in theater for many years, among others at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus, the Munich Kammerspiele, the Munich Residenztheater, the Salzburg festival and the Volksbühne in Berlin. The actor made his breakthrough on television in 1989 with his first leading role as Koslowski in Tatort – Die Neue, directed by Peter Schulze-Rohr. We are pleased to honor Michael Mendl this year at the 2019 ASKANIA AWARD.
Honored with TAIFUN
Best Actress:
Gesine Cukrowski
Born in Berlin in 1968, this year’s award winner has acted in more than 85 film and TV productions so far. In 1997, alongside Ulrich Mühe, she celebrated her big breakthrough in the award-winning crime series Der Letzte Zeuge (until 2007) as the forensic expert Judith Sommer. Among her productions are the drama Das Wunder von Berlin, nominated for the international Emmy Award, the cinema film Zwischen Heute und Morgen, the award-winning Tatort – Blinder Glaube and the drama Fliegen Lernen. Furthermore, since her first visit to Uganda in 2015, where she visited the Karamoja World Hunger Aid Project, she has been tirelessly committed to one of the poorest regions in the world. We are pleased to honor Gesine Cukrowski this year at the 2019 ASKANIA AWARD.
Honored with TEGEL
Shootingstar:
Luise Befort
During her childhood, she completed a dance and musical education at the berlin musical school “MAD-School”, and performed in the musical Les Misérables at the Theater des Westens in Berlin at the tender age of eight. She then turned to the art of acting, refining her knowledge in various acting courses and workshops, most recently in 2018 at the London acting school “Guildhall School of Music and Drama”. She became known to large audience for her leading role in the award-winning VOX TV series Club der Roten Bänder (2015-17). With Tim Trachtes’ film Dem Horizont so nah, in 2019 she celebrated her premiere in german cinemas in the role of Tina. We are pleased to honor the young talent Luise Befort this year at the ASKANIA AWARD 2019.
Honored with QUADRIGA
ASKANIA Lifetime Achievement:
Fritz Wepper
Allthough he is known as the eternal assistant of Horst Tappert’s inspector Derrick from the TV series (1975-1999), he previously also had a minor career in the film industry. Born in Munich in 1941, he debuted in 1954 in Sauerbruch – Das war mein Leben, in 1959 he was one of the young students from the home reserve, serving as soldiers in Bernhard Wickis’s world success Die Brücke, and in 1964 he received the German Film Award for his role in Kennwort: Reiher. He played his big international role as a friend of Michael York in the film musical Cabaret, where he converted against the will of the rich family in order to marry his jewish girlfriend (Marisa Berenson). In TV crime genre, he was already assistant to Erik Ode in the series Der Kommisar before he came to the Derrick series as Harry Klein and was immortalized in media history with the sentence: “Harry, hol schon mal den Wagen” (transl. “Harry, go and get the car”). For the animated cinema film Derrick – Die Pflicht ruft (2004), just like Tappert, he spoke his character himself. We are pleased to honor Fritz Wepper this year at the ASKANIA AWARD 2019.
Honored with a painting by Frank Wagner
ASKANIA Sport Award:
Jens Weissflog
He grew up in Poehla and lived in Oberwiesenthal since attending the children’s and youth sports school, where he was a member of the SC Traktor. As a 19-year-old, the ski jumper – who due to his slender stature and low body weight was often called “Flea from Fichtelberg” – won the four hills tournament for the first time at the turn of the year 1983/1984. The uniqueness of his success lies in his ability to maintain his level for twelve years. In 1994, he won two gold medals with the team on the large hill at the winter Olympics in Lillehammer. In 1996, he crowned his career with the fourth overall victory during the four hills tournament, after which he resigned from high-performance sports. He is the most successful German ski jumper, whereas on the international stage only the Finns Matti Nykänen and Janne Ahonen, Adam Małysz from Poland and the Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer achieved more world cup victories than him. We are pleased to honor Jens Weissflog this year at the ASKANIA AWARD 2019.
Honored with TEGEL
ASKANIA AWARD 2012–2018
2018
- Heiner Lauterbach,
- Katharina Wackernagel,
- Tim Oliver Schultz,
- Henry Hübchen,
- Robert Harting
2017
- Heino Ferch,
- Veronica Ferres,
- Louis Hofmann,
- Claus Theo Gärtner
