Christian Petzold

Directing

Christian Petzold

Born

1960-09-14 (66)

Place of birth

Hilden, Germany

Known for

Directing

Credits

62 titles

Christian Petzold (born September 14, 1960; Hilden) is a German filmmaker, best known for directing the films Barbara, Jerichow, and Phoenix. He is credited to the Berlin School and has received numerous prizes and awards. Petzold writes his own scenarios, often collaborating with Harun Farocki. As his former teacher at dffb, Farocki was a major influence on Petzold, who, along with Angela Schanelec and Thomas Arslan, is generally considered to be part of the Berlin School. While the Berlin School is often associated with a new turn towards realism and political cinema, Petzold's films, while they address issues of work and employment, also deal with conflicts between life and death. His f…

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 4 titles

2000s · 2 titles

1990s · 5 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Afire poster
6.8

Self-important author Leon joins his best friend on a summer holiday near the Baltic Sea to complete his novel. When they arrive, they find their house is already occupied by a carefree woman who challenges Leon to open up. Meanwhile, forest wildfires rage around them and impending disaster looms.

Afire

2023

Afire poster
6.8

Self-important author Leon joins his best friend on a summer holiday near the Baltic Sea to complete his novel. When they arrive, they find their house is already occupied by a carefree woman who challenges Leon to open up. Meanwhile, forest wildfires rage around them and impending disaster looms.

Afire

2023

Undine poster
6.5

Undine is a historian and tour guide at the Berlin City Museum specializing in urban development, while Christoph is an industrial diver. Linked by a love of the water, the two form an intense bond, which can only do so much to help Undine overcome the considerable baggage of her former affair.

Undine

2020

Undine poster
6.5

Undine is a historian and tour guide at the Berlin City Museum specializing in urban development, while Christoph is an industrial diver. Linked by a love of the water, the two form an intense bond, which can only do so much to help Undine overcome the considerable baggage of her former affair.

Undine

2020

Phoenix poster
6.8

In the aftermath of WWII, German-Jewish cabaret singer Nelly has to undergo facial reconstructive surgery following her survival from Auschwitz. Without recognising Nelly, her former husband Johnny asks her to help him claim his wife’s inheritance. To see if he's betrayed her, she agrees, becoming her own doppelgänger.

Phoenix

2014

Phoenix poster
6.8

In the aftermath of WWII, German-Jewish cabaret singer Nelly has to undergo facial reconstructive surgery following her survival from Auschwitz. Without recognising Nelly, her former husband Johnny asks her to help him claim his wife’s inheritance. To see if he's betrayed her, she agrees, becoming her own doppelgänger.

Phoenix

2014

Transit poster
6.7

In an attempt to flee Nazi-occupied France, Georg assumes the identity of a dead author but soon finds himself stuck in Marseilles, where he falls in love with Maria, a young woman searching for her missing husband.

Transit

2018

Transit poster
6.7

In an attempt to flee Nazi-occupied France, Georg assumes the identity of a dead author but soon finds himself stuck in Marseilles, where he falls in love with Maria, a young woman searching for her missing husband.

Transit

2018

Miroirs No. 3 poster
6.6

After a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes.

Miroirs No. 3

2025

Miroirs No. 3 poster
6.6

After a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes.

Miroirs No. 3

2025

Barbara poster
7.1

Exiled to a rural clinic in 1980s East Germany for seeking an exit visa, a disillusioned doctor maintains a guarded distance from her colleagues, unsure if the kindly head physician is a genuine ally or a Stasi informant.

Barbara

2012

Barbara poster
7.1

Exiled to a rural clinic in 1980s East Germany for seeking an exit visa, a disillusioned doctor maintains a guarded distance from her colleagues, unsure if the kindly head physician is a genuine ally or a Stasi informant.

Barbara

2012

The State I Am In poster
6.8

Clara and Hans are left-wing terrorists who have been sought by police for almost fifteen years. Their increasingly rebellious daughter Jeanne begins to pose a threat to their security when she falls in love with a boy she meets on the beach.

The State I Am In

2001

The State I Am In poster
6.8

Clara and Hans are left-wing terrorists who have been sought by police for almost fifteen years. Their increasingly rebellious daughter Jeanne begins to pose a threat to their security when she falls in love with a boy she meets on the beach.

The State I Am In

2001

Ghosts poster
6.1

Nina, a mentally ill teenage orphan, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fall in love but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. Meanwhile, Francoise is picked up at a Berlin psychiatric hospital by her husband, Pierre. After spotting Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but no one believes her.

Ghosts

2005

Ghosts poster
6.1

Nina, a mentally ill teenage orphan, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fall in love but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. Meanwhile, Francoise is picked up at a Berlin psychiatric hospital by her husband, Pierre. After spotting Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but no one believes her.

Ghosts

2005

Yella poster
6.2

A young East German woman leaves her controlling husband/business partner and relocates to a West German city to start anew as an accountant, but he soon catches up with her.

Yella

2007

Yella poster
6.2

A young East German woman leaves her controlling husband/business partner and relocates to a West German city to start anew as an accountant, but he soon catches up with her.

Yella

2007

Jerichow poster
6.5

In a small Northern German town, a dishonourably discharged Afghanistan veteran is offered a job as a deliveryman by an alcoholic Turkish entrepreneur, through which the former meets the latter's gorgeous wife.

Jerichow

2008

Jerichow poster
6.5

In a small Northern German town, a dishonourably discharged Afghanistan veteran is offered a job as a deliveryman by an alcoholic Turkish entrepreneur, through which the former meets the latter's gorgeous wife.

Jerichow

2008

Pilots poster
6.2

Drifters tells of Karin, a past-her-prime cosmetics saleswoman, with her increasing exasperation with her life and her dreams of leaving it all behind and living in Paris. An unlikely but entertaining plot develops, where anything can happen.

Pilots

1995

Pilots poster
6.2

Drifters tells of Karin, a past-her-prime cosmetics saleswoman, with her increasing exasperation with her life and her dreams of leaving it all behind and living in Paris. An unlikely but entertaining plot develops, where anything can happen.

Pilots

1995

Dreileben: Beats Being Dead poster
6.2

Johannes is a loner who wants a better job. And then he meets Ana. Ana is attractive and even though her job is even less prestigious than Johannes's, he falls for her. And then she quits her job to be with him (and be dependent on him) and suddenly things become much more serious. She has fallen for him. But does he still love her? Did he ever? Enter Sarah. Sarah is the daughter of Johannes's boss. He and she have a past. Will Sarah and what she represents be his future, and Ana just a memory, something he'd like to erase?

Dreileben: Beats Being Dead

2011

Dreileben: Beats Being Dead poster
6.2

Johannes is a loner who wants a better job. And then he meets Ana. Ana is attractive and even though her job is even less prestigious than Johannes's, he falls for her. And then she quits her job to be with him (and be dependent on him) and suddenly things become much more serious. She has fallen for him. But does he still love her? Did he ever? Enter Sarah. Sarah is the daughter of Johannes's boss. He and she have a past. Will Sarah and what she represents be his future, and Ana just a memory, something he'd like to erase?

Dreileben: Beats Being Dead

2011

Something to Remind Me poster
6.9

Middle-aged lawyer Thomas meets Leyla at the pool. After their paths keep crossing, he asks her out on a date. Somewhat to his surprise she agrees. The next morning Thomas awakes to find Leyla and his laptop, which contains vital case files, missing.

Something to Remind Me

2002

Something to Remind Me poster
6.9

Middle-aged lawyer Thomas meets Leyla at the pool. After their paths keep crossing, he asks her out on a date. Somewhat to his surprise she agrees. The next morning Thomas awakes to find Leyla and his laptop, which contains vital case files, missing.

Something to Remind Me

2002

Broads poster
NR

The social democrats of the sixties and seventies worked on their grand plan to build a highway network in Germany that every German citizen could reach within five minutes of their home. The little film hangs around between and on the streets of this network - where the country discos, pedestrian zones, shopping centers, hospitals and roads home are behind noise barriers.

Broads

1989

Broads poster
NR

The social democrats of the sixties and seventies worked on their grand plan to build a highway network in Germany that every German citizen could reach within five minutes of their home. The little film hangs around between and on the streets of this network - where the country discos, pedestrian zones, shopping centers, hospitals and roads home are behind noise barriers.

Broads

1989

South poster
4.9

A lonesome car. The wind is whistling. A door of an undefined building opens—is it a holiday bungalow, a shed or a ruin? A woman is standing at the window. The heat of an idle day of holiday, perhaps. The South, a place of longing.

South

1990

South poster
4.9

A lonesome car. The wind is whistling. A door of an undefined building opens—is it a holiday bungalow, a shed or a ruin? A woman is standing at the window. The heat of an idle day of holiday, perhaps. The South, a place of longing.

South

1990

Wolfsburg poster
6.7

Philipp Gerber is a smart, but self-satisfied car salesman. In an inattentive moment at the wheel of his car, he runs over a boy on a bike and, instead of helping him, he drives away. As he has feelings of guilt, he tries to find out more about the accident’s victim.

Wolfsburg

2003

Wolfsburg poster
6.7

Philipp Gerber is a smart, but self-satisfied car salesman. In an inattentive moment at the wheel of his car, he runs over a boy on a bike and, instead of helping him, he drives away. As he has feelings of guilt, he tries to find out more about the accident’s victim.

Wolfsburg

2003

I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor! poster
NR

Short film made by a group of young directors in Berlin.

I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor!

1988

Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold? poster
NR

"Où en êtes-vous ?" (Where do you stand today?) is a project initiated by the Centre Pompidou, which commissions its guest filmmakers to make a free-form film in response to a question simultaneously retrospective, introspective and focused on their future ideas and projects. Here Christian Petzold is joined by Christoph Hochhäusler as they analyze a sequence from Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956) through a series of photograms. With this tribute to Harun Farocki, who died in 2014, Christian Petzold endeavors to revive and perpetuate the spirit, taste and methods of his former teacher and friend.

Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?

2017

Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold? poster
NR

"Où en êtes-vous ?" (Where do you stand today?) is a project initiated by the Centre Pompidou, which commissions its guest filmmakers to make a free-form film in response to a question simultaneously retrospective, introspective and focused on their future ideas and projects. Here Christian Petzold is joined by Christoph Hochhäusler as they analyze a sequence from Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956) through a series of photograms. With this tribute to Harun Farocki, who died in 2014, Christian Petzold endeavors to revive and perpetuate the spirit, taste and methods of his former teacher and friend.

Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?

2017

The Warm Money poster
6.1

Vera and Heike are two friends who aspire for a dazzling lifestyle, but don’t own any savings to do so. Vera decides to start stealing from men while sipping drinks with them in bars. When Heike takes over her job, her technique doesn’t prove as successful and she ends up being caught at once.

The Warm Money

1992

The Warm Money poster
6.1

Vera and Heike are two friends who aspire for a dazzling lifestyle, but don’t own any savings to do so. Vera decides to start stealing from men while sipping drinks with them in bars. When Heike takes over her job, her technique doesn’t prove as successful and she ends up being caught at once.

The Warm Money

1992

The Sex Thief poster
6.0

Petra professionally works as a thief abroad to finance the studies of her younger sister Franziska in Germany.

The Sex Thief

1998

The Sex Thief poster
6.0

Petra professionally works as a thief abroad to finance the studies of her younger sister Franziska in Germany.

The Sex Thief

1998

Eastward poster
5.0

Shortly after German reunification, three residents of a quiet area north of Berlin talk about their plans and attempts at new economic beginnings amid the changes brought by the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Eastward

1991