Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's new film tells the story of an artist who grows up in Nazi Germany, comes of age in East Germany and travels to the West to find freedom for himself and his art.

The Lives of Others, a spy film set in the former East Germany, won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Its director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, writes that it's "a human drama about the ability of human beings to do the right thing, no matter how far they have gone down the wrong path." In addition to the Oscar, the film took home seven Lola awards (the German answer to the Academy Awards), along with prizes at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. It's due out on DVD Aug. 21.

German writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie, The Lives of Others, has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Donnersmarck writes that his film is "a human drama about the ability of human beings to do the right thing, no matter how far they have gone down the wrong path."