RETROSPECTIVE: CHRISTIAN PETZOLD
WED 8 APR  – WED 29 APRIL 2015
GOETHE-INSTITUT LONDON

In the lead-up to the UK release of his latest film Phoenix on 8 May, we will present all of Christian Petzold’s feature films for television and cinema: from Die Innere Sicherheit / The State I am In (2000) – which established him as one of the most relevant directors in contemporary German cinema – onwards. 

The nine films in this season provide an insight into how Petzold developed his themes and distinctive style in collaboration with his regular team, including Nina Hoss, who has starred and re-invented herself in six of his films to date.
http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/ver/en13760070v.htm

VENUE DETAILS AND TICKET PRICES

Goethe-Institut London
Tickets: £3, season ticket £20, free for Goethe-Institut language students and library members, booking essential
Box Office: 020 7596 4000
www.goethe.de/london


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SEASON LISTINGS

DIE INNERE SICHERHEIT / THE STATE I AM IN
WED 8 APR 7PM
Wanted by the police for their involvement in acts of terrorism, Clara and Hans have been on the run and living under false identities for more than 15 years. A normal life is impossible for them, but this is what their adolescent daughter Jeanne is longing for. When she falls in love, the family’s precarious state of existence is fundamentally threatened. 
Germany 2000, colour, 106 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Julia Hummer, Barbara Auer, Richy Müller, Bilge Bingül.


TOTER MANN / SOMETHING TO REMIND ME
FRI 10 APR 7PM
The mysterious Leyla puts her spell on Thomas, an attorney, only to vanish again from his life. As he tries to find her, she starts a new job and is now getting close to Blum, who is enrolled in a re-socialisation programme. Petzold keeps us guessing until the end in this nuanced psychological thriller that plays with the fateful power of seduction and projected desires.
Germany 2001, colour, 90 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Nina Hoss, André Hennicke, Sven Pippig, Heinrich Schmieder, Kathrin Angerer.


WOLFSBURG
MON 13 APR 7PM
Although the film does not take us to the ‘Volkswagen City’ of Wolfsburg, cars act as signifiers of personal guilt and social divides in it. Philip is a car salesman. One day, while driving and talking on his mobile phone, he hits a boy. He doesn’t stop, but haunted by his guilt seeks out the boy’s mother, Laura. Trying to help her overcome her grief after the boy dies, Philip and Laura’s lives become increasingly intertwined.  
Germany 2003, colour, 90 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, Astrid Meyerfeldt, Antje Westermann.


GESPENSTER / GHOSTS
WED 15 APR 7PM
Françoise keeps returning from France to Berlin to search for her daughter who was abducted at the age of three. When she meets a young woman called Nina, she believes to have found her daughter. But Nina has fallen under the spell of Toni, a drifter, who might jeopardise the reunion between mother and daughter. 
Germany 2005, colour, 85 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Julia Hummer, Sabine Timoteo, Marianne Basler, Aurélien Recoing, Benno Fürmann.


YELLA
FRI 17 APR 7PM
In this chilling mystery thriller, Yella, a young woman from East Germany, takes up a new job in the West and finds herself in the unfamiliar world of venture capitalism. Coached by the manipulative Phillipp, an executive in a private equity company, she soon enjoys the thrill of mind games and the quick money to be earned. But Yella’s past keeps unsettling her new existence. 
Germany 2007, colour, 89 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Nina Hoss, Devid Striesow, Hinnerk Schönemann, Burghart Klaußner, Barbara Auer.


JERICHOW
TUE 21 APR 7PM
In this modern re-working of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Thomas, who is left penniless after serving as a soldier in Afghanistan, is hired by Ali. The Turkish-German owner of a chain of take-aways in Jerichow, Eastern Germany, is generous but also unpredictable. Ali soon puts all his trust in Thomas, even when it comes to his beautiful wife Laura.
Germany 2008, colour, 93 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, Hilmi Sözer.


ETWAS BESSERES ALS DER TOD / BEATS BEING DEAD
THU 23 APR 7PM
Set in a fictitious town in rural Eastern Germany and against the background of the escape of a convicted murderer from prison, this love story between a German medical student and a Bosnian chambermaid develops into an intense thriller in which class difference and betrayal, mixed with fate, bring about disaster. 
Germany 2011, colour, 88 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Jacob Matschenz, Luna Mijović, Vijessna Ferkic, Rainer Bock.


BARBARA
FRI 24 APR 7PM
Barbara, a doctor, is sent to work in a provincial hospital as punishment for applying to leave the GDR in 1980. While secretly preparing to escape to the West, she is drawn into the lives of two young patients and towards her colleague André. As the day of her escape approaches, the decisions she has to make seem ever more complicated. 
Germany 2012, colour, 105 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Nina Hoss, Roland Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock and Christina Hecke.


SPECIAL PREVIEW: PHOENIX
WED 29 APR 7PM
In this haunting noir-esque drama set in Berlin in the summer of 1945, concentration camp survivor Nelly tracks down her husband Johnny whom she suspects may have betrayed her to the Nazis. Desperate to know the truth and to get her old life back, she is drawn into a psychologically dangerous scheme he has plotted.
Germany 2014, colour, 98 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Christian Petzold. With Nina Hoss, Roland Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf.

With special thanks to Soda Pictures. Phoenix will be on nationwide release in the UK from 8 May. 

Shown as part of Goethe-Kino, the Goethe-Institut’s monthly screening of popular and classic films on every last Wednesday of the month.