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.
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 | Golden Candlestick | ||
| 1952 | |||||
| 1953 | Nights on the Road aka The Mistress | Nachts auf den Straßen | Golden Candlestick | ||
| 1954 | No Way Back | Weg ohne Umkehr | Golden Bowl | ||
| 1955 | Canaris: Master Spy | Canaris | |||
| 1956 | |||||
| 1957 | The Captain from Köpenick | Der Hauptmann von Köpenick | Golden Bowl | ||
| 1958 | The Devil Strikes at Night | Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam | |||
| 1959 | Arms and the Man | Helden | |||
| 1960 | The Bridge | Die Brücke | |||
| 1961 | |||||
| 1962 | The Bread of Those Early Years | Das Brot der frühen Jahre | Film Award in Silver | ||
| 1963 | Die endlose Nacht | ||||
| The Lightship | Das Feuerschiff | ||||
| 1964 | The River Line | Kennwort... Reiher | Film Award in Gold | ||
| 1965 | The House in Karp Lane | Das Haus in der Karpfengasse | |||
| 1966 | Young Törless | Der junge Törless | |||
| 1967 | Yesterday Girl | Abschied von gestern | |||
| 1968 | Tattoo | Tätowierung | |||
| 1969 | Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos | ||||
| 1970 | Katzelmacher | ||||
| Malatesta | |||||
| 1971 | First Love | ||||
| 1972 | Trotta | ||||
| 1973 | The Experts | Die Sachverständigen | Golden Bowl | ||
| 1974 | The Pedestrian | Der Fußgänger | |||
| 1975 | Lina Braake | Film Award in Silver | |||
| 1976 | Es herrscht Ruhe im Land | Golden Bowl | |||
| 1977 | |||||
| 1978 | The Glass Cell | Die gläserne Zelle | Film Award in Gold | ||
| 1979 | The Tin Drum | Die Blechtrommel | Golden Bowl | ||
| 1980 | Die letzten Jahre der Kindheit | Film Award in Silver | |||
| 1981 | Jede Menge Kohle | Adolf Winkelmann | Film Award in Gold | ||
| 1982 | Marianne and Juliane | Die bleierne Zeit | |||
| 1983 | The State of Things | Der Stand der Dinge | |||
| 1984 | Where the Green Ants Dream | Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen | |||
| 1985 | Colonel Redl | Oberst Redl | |||
| Year | English title | Original title | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Rosa Luxemburg | ||
| 1987 | |||
| 1988 | Wings of Desire | Der Himmel über Berlin | |
| 1989 | Yasemin | ||
| 1990 | Last Exit to Brooklyn | Letzte Ausfahrt Brooklyn | |
| 1991 | Malina | ||
| 1992 | Schtonk! | ||
| 1993 | |||
| 1994 | |||
| 1995 | Maybe... Maybe Not | Der bewegte Mann | |
| 1996 | Deathmaker | Der Totmacher | |
| 1997 | Rossini – oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief | ||
| 1998 | The Harmonists | Comedian Harmonists | |
| 1999 | Run Lola Run | Lola rennt | |
| 2000 | No Place to Go | Die Unberührbare | |
| 2001 | The State I Am In | Die innere Sicherheit | |
| 2002 | Nowhere in Africa | Nirgendwo in Afrika | |
| 2003 | Good Bye, Lenin! | ||
| 2004 | Head-On | Gegen die Wand | |
| 2005 | Go for Zucker | Alles auf Zucker! | |
| 2006 | The Lives of Others | Das Leben der Anderen | |
| 2007 | Four Minutes | Vier Minuten | |
| 2008 | The Edge of Heaven | Auf der anderen Seite | |
| 2009 | John Rabe | ||
| 2010 | The White Ribbon | Das weiße Band | |
| 2011 | Vincent Wants to Sea | Vincent will Meer | |
| 2012 | Stopped on Track | Halt auf freier Strecke | |
| 2013 | A Coffee in Berlin | Oh Boy | |
| 2014 | Home from Home | Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht | |
| Victoria | Victoria | ||
| 2016 | The People vs. Fritz Bauer | Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer | |
| 2017 | Toni Erdmann | Toni Erdmann | |
| 2018 | 3 Days in Quiberon | 3 Tage in Quiberon | |
| 2019 | Gundermann | Gundermann | |
| 2020 | System Crasher | Systemsprenger | |
| 2021 | I'm Your Man | Ich bin dein Mensch | |
| 2022 | Dear Thomas | Lieber Thomas | |
| 2023 | The Teachers' Lounge | Das Lehrerzimmer | |
| 2024 | Dying | Sterben | |