'Cherry Blossoms' leads German film nominations

By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN (Reuters) - A love story about a cranky Bavarian civil servant and his late-life metamorphosis in Japan after his wife's death won six nominations on Friday for the German Film Prize, the world's most lucrative award.

"Kirschblueten" (Cherry Blossoms) by Doris Doerrie led the field of nominations for the 3 million euros ($5 million) "Lolas" while a box office hit exploring whether a dictatorship in Germany would be possible again got three nominations.

"Cherry Blossoms", a highly regarded Berlin Film Fest competition entry, tracks a grieving old man's journey to Japan to follow his adoring wife's dreams after she suddenly dies.

The man near retirement goes into severe withdrawal after her death. He takes the trip to Japan that she always wanted to make, but he rejected, and then wanders around Tokyo and to Mount Fuji wearing her sweater under his coat.

"Die Welle" (The Wave) by Dennis Gansel, a drama set in modern Germany about a high school seduced into an authoritarian regime by one charismatic teacher, has had a spectacularly strong box office earning more than $10 million since its release last week.

German-Turkish director Fatih Akin also got three nominations for his cross-culture drama "Auf der andere Seite" (The Edge of Heaven) set in Turkey and Germany.

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