Christian Petzold

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A woman is executed in front of her daughter in a remote parking lot. For Nadja, the detective chief inspector Hanns von Meuffels as a dedicated assistant, the case seems obvious. A family drama about sex, blackmail and custody. But von Meuffels is not a fan of hasty theories. Too many inconsistencies that don’t make sense. He is looking for an exchange with Constanze, his former colleague from Hamburg, who has already assisted him twice in solving cases. Von Meuffels has an ambivalent relationship with her that goes beyond the professional level. And so in his last case he is fighting on two fronts.Read More »

Afire (German: Roter Himmel) is a 2023 German drama film directed by Christian Petzold, starring Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Langston Uibel and Enno Trebs. The relationship drama focuses on four people who are trapped in their holiday home on the Baltic Sea by uncontrolled forest fires.

The film won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. In August 2023, it was shortlisted as the German submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for the 96th Academy Awards.Read More »

Afire (German: Roter Himmel) is a 2023 German drama film directed by Christian Petzold, starring Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Langston Uibel and Enno Trebs. The relationship drama focuses on four people who are trapped in their holiday home on the Baltic Sea by uncontrolled forest fires.

The film won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. In August 2023, it was shortlisted as the German submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for the 96th Academy Awards.Read More »

Philipp Gerber is a smart, but self-satisfied car salesman. In an inattentive moment at the wheel of his car, he runs over a young boy riding a bike and drives away. As he has feelings of guilt, he tries to find out more about the accident’s victim and learns that the boy lies seriously injured in a hospital. Philipp wants to tell his mother Laura Reiser the truth, but he doesn’t. After a carefree holiday with his girlfriend Katja, he learns that the boy is dead. Meanwhile, Laura staggers between grief and the desire for revenge. One evening, she can’t bear it any more and jumps off a bridge, but Philipp saves her life…Read More »

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.

Christian Petzold’s second film is his only documentary thus far, made with the help of fellow “Berlin School” auteur Thomas Arslan. Interviewing residents of former East Germany about economic change, the director probes a subject that would serve as an undercurrent to his later genre masterpieces.Read More »

The story tells of a travelling saleslady who gets a younger rival from her boss and is doomed to be mobbed out. However the new girl soon discovers that she also is only a plaything for the boss and after a rough start the two women come together and play a bit Thelma and Louise …Read More »

Petra professionally works as a thief abroad to finance the studies of her younger sister Franziska in Germany. When she returns, she realizes that her sister has a secret, too.Read More »

Undine works as a historian lecturing on Berlin’s urban development. But when the man she loves leaves her, the ancient myth catches up with her. Undine has to kill the man who betrays her and return to the water.Read More »

Former left-wing terrorists Clara and Hans have been on the run for 20 years, and have raised a 15-year-old daughter, Jeanne, in hiding. The couple are planning to leave Europe permanently for Brazil, but when their money is stolen, decide to risk returning to Germany in the hope of raising funds from past associates. Instead, they discover their old friends are now respectable members of society who are eager to disavow their past activities. With the family’s security coming under threat, Jeanne begins to crave a more normal life of shopping, hanging out with friends, and a boyfriend…Read More »