Christian Petzold (director)

Christian Petzold (born 14 September 1960 in Hilden) is a German movie director.

Biography

Raised in Haan, after his high-school graduation in 1979 he fulfilled his military civil service („Keine Flucht nach Berlin!“^[1]) in a small cineclub of local YMCA („Doppelprogramme, bestehend aus einem Appetizer und einem Filmkunstwerk, alles für schwer erziehbare Jugendliche.“^[1]). From 1981 on he lived in Berlin, where he was studying theatre and German studies at the Free University of Berlin. During 1988-1994 he pursued his education at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb).

His first film was Pilotinnen, which he conducted for his graduation in 1995. In 2005, his film Gespenster was presented at the Berlinale film festival, as was his 2007 film Yella. Petzold writes his own scenarios, often collaborating with Harun Farocki. As his former teacher at dffb, Farocki was a major influence on Petzold (as well as for Angela Schanelec and Thomas Arslan); this traditionally places Petzold as part of the Berlin School.

However, while this group is often associated with a new turn towards realism and political cinema, Petzold's latest movies, starting with Die innere Sicherheit, deal primarily with conflicts between life and death through issues of work and employment. In Gespenster the protagonist leads a ghost-like existence,^[2] in Yella the protagonist is, possibly, already dead at the beginning of the film. These three movies came to be viewed as the „Gespenster Trilogy“.^[3]

The 2008 movie Jerichow was his fourth collaboration with Nina Hoss after Something to remind me (German: Toter Mann), Wolfsburg and Yella. The drama concerns a soldier who, having returned from Afghanistan to Prignitz, becomes involved in relationships with married women. The movie was nominated in the main competition at the 65th Bienale film festival in 2008. In 2009, Petzold was nominated for this film with a 'best director' Deutscher Filmpreis award.^[4]

Being famous as a movie director, Petzold has also staged Arthur Schnitzler's The lonely way (German: Der einsame Weg) at Deutsches Theater following an invitation by Oliver Reese. The drama, with Nina Hoss as protagonist, premiered on March 14, 2009.^[5]

Filmography

Television:

• 1995: Pilotinnen (With Eleonore Weisgerber, Nadeshda Brennicke, Udo Schenk, Annedore von Donop, Barbara Frey)
• 1996: Cuba Libre (With Richy Müller, Marquard Bohm, Eleonore Weisgerber)
• 1998: Die Beischlafdiebin (With Constanze Engelbrecht, Richy Müller, Wolfram Berger)
• 2002: Something to remind me (German: Toter Mann) (Scenario Jean-Baptiste Filleau, with Nina Hoss, André Hennicke, Sven Pippig, Kathrin Angerer)

Feature films:

• 2000: The State I Am In (German: Die innere Sicherheit) (scenario with Harun Farocki, with Julia Hummer, Richy Müller, Barbara Auer, Katharina Schüttler)
• 2003: Wolfsburg (with Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, Astrid Meyerfeldt)
• 2005: Gespenster (scenario with Harun Farocki, with Julia Hummer, Sabine Timoteo, Benno Fürmann)
• 2007: Yella (scenario with Simone Baer, with Nina Hoss)
• 2008: Jerichow (with Nina Hoss, Hilmi Sözer and Benno Fürmann)

Awards

• 1996: Max Ophüls assistance award in category feature-length film for Cuba Libre
• 2001: Verband der deutschen Filmkritik award as best acting film for Die innere Sicherheit
• 2001: Deutscher Filmpreis award in category best movie for Die innere Sicherheit
• 2002: Deutsche Akademie der Künste television award for Toter Mann
• 2002: Deutscher Fernsehpreis for Toter Mann
• 2003: Adolf Grimme Award for Toter Mann
• 2003: FIPRESCI award in panorama of Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin for Wolfsburg
• 2005: Adolf Grimme golden award for Wolfsburg^[6]
• 2006: Verband der deutschen Filmkritik award as best acting film for Gespenster
• 2008: Verband der deutschen Filmkritik award as best acting film for Yella
• 2009: Verband der deutschen Filmkritik award as best acting film for Jerichow^[7]
• 2009: Film award of German city Hof (Saale) (Internationale Hofer Filmtage)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Interview on DVD Die innere Sicherheit
2. ^ Petzold im Interview auf der Webpräsenz des Films Gespenster
3. ^ Filmzentrale: „Im Zwischenreich“
4. ^ Welt Online, 13. März 2009: „Deutscher Filmpreis: Die Nominierungen im Überblick“
5. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau, S-Ausgabe, vom 16. März 2009, Seite 21, und Deutsches Theater Berlin
6. ^ Adolf-Grimme-Preis: Preisträger 2005
7. ^ Verband der deutschen Filmkritik e. V.: Preisträger seit 1956

External links

• Christian Petzold at the Internet Movie Database
• 'The Cinema of Identification Gets on My Nerves': An Interview with Christian Petzold, Cineaste 33.3 (summer 2008)

Persondata
Name	Petzold, Christian
Alternative names
Short description	deutscher Filmregisseur und Drehbuchautor
Date of birth	14 September 1960
Place of birth	Hilden
Date of death
Place of death