Malte Grunert was blown away when 'All Quiet on the Western Front' won Best Film at the BAFTAs.
The 54-year-old producer worked on the German language film which stars newcomer Felix Kammerer and is set in the closing days of World War I and he noted that the "message" in the film is still relevant today, almost a century after the original novel by Erich Maria Remarque was published.
Speaking live on stage at the 76th British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday (19.02.23), he said: "Thank you so much. German language film, we've been blessed with so many nominations, and winning this is just incredible. 'All Quiet on the Western Front' tells the story of a young man who is poisoned by right-wing political nationalist propaganda and goes to war thinking it is an adventure. War is anything but an adventure. That is one of the messages of the novel and embarking on this film that seemed a relevant message, even 100 years after the book was published."
Earlier in the evening, the film had won Best Director and movie maker Edward Berger noted how his daughter Matilda had begged him to bring the drama to the screen after reading the book in school.
He said: "When my daughter heard the title, she said 'You have to do it, you have no choice! I just read it in school, so just go and do it!' So thank you, Matilda, for giving me the confidence to do this and for turning my doubt into faith. And thank you, BAFTA, it is a huge, huge honour."
