Christian Petzold

Short Biography

Christian Petzold, one of today's leading German filmmakers, was born in Hilden in 1960. After studying German and drama at the Freie Universität, he enrolls in Berlin's German Academy for Film and Television. There he studies movie direction while at same time working as assistant director to Harun Farocki and Hartmut Bitomsky. After graduation, Christian Petzold makes a series of interesting TVfilms. In 2000, his first theatrical feature, The State I Am In (2000), about a couple of left-wing terrorists, is released and makes a strong impression and earning its director both the German Film Award and the Hessischer Best Film Award. By 2012, this prolific creator has managed to make two more TVfilms and five additional features, among which Yella (2007), the sensitive portrait of a young woman who tries to escape the grip of her violent and possessive husband, and the most widely seen throughout the world of Petzold's abundant output, Barbara (2012), which isquite rightly - awarded the Gold Bear. This fine chronicle, tingedwith tragedy, plunges the viewer into the everyday life atmosphere of the GDR like no other film before and serves as showcase for its director's multiple talents.