A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
Кристиан Петцольд
Крістіан Петцольд
克里斯蒂安·佩措尔德
Birthplace:
Hilden, Germany
Born:
September 14, 1960
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 first film was "Pilots" (1995), which he directed for his film school graduation in 1995. While "The State I Am In" (2000) was his first feature film, also noting his first collaboration with Harun Farocki. In 2005, his film "Ghosts"was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival, as was his 2007 film "Yella". Petzold's film Barbara (2012) competed in competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival and Petzold won the Silver Bear for Best Director. The film was selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. For the film Afire (2023), Christian Petzold received the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2023.
Assistant Director:
1992 Die UFA
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
Co-Producer:
1991 The Cinema and the Wind and Photography
1992 Die UFA
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
Director:
1987 Mission
1988 I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor!
1989 Broads
1990 Glory and Misery of the Gifted
1990 South
1991 Eastward
1991 The Cinema and the Wind and Photography
1992 Die UFA
1992 The Warm Money
1994 Deduction
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
1995 Pilots
1996 Cuba Libre
1998 The Sex Thief
2001 The State I Am In
2002 Something to Remind Me
2003 Wolfsburg
2005 Ghosts
2007 Yella
2009 Jerichow
2011 Dreileben: Beats Being Dead
2012 Barbara
2014 Phoenix
2017 Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?
2018 Transit
2020 Undine
2023 Afire
2025 Miroirs No. 3
Director of Photography:
1987 Mission
1988 I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor!
1989 Broads
1990 Glory and Misery of the Gifted
1990 South
1991 Eastward
1991 The Cinema and the Wind and Photography
1992 Die UFA
1992 The Warm Money
1994 Deduction
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
1995 Pilots
1996 Cuba Libre
1998 The Sex Thief
2001 The State I Am In
2002 Something to Remind Me
2003 Wolfsburg
2005 Ghosts
2007 Yella
2009 Jerichow
2011 Dreileben: Beats Being Dead
2012 Barbara
2014 Phoenix
2017 Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?
2018 Transit
2020 Undine
2023 Afire
2025 Miroirs No. 3
Editor:
1987 Mission
1988 I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor!
1989 Broads
1990 Glory and Misery of the Gifted
1990 South
1991 Eastward
1991 The Cinema and the Wind and Photography
1992 Die UFA
1992 The Warm Money
1994 Deduction
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
1995 Pilots
1996 Cuba Libre
1998 The Sex Thief
2001 The State I Am In
2002 Something to Remind Me
2003 Wolfsburg
2005 Ghosts
2007 Yella
2009 Jerichow
2011 Dreileben: Beats Being Dead
2012 Barbara
2014 Phoenix
2017 Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?
2018 Transit
2020 Undine
2023 Afire
2025 Miroirs No. 3
Screenplay:
1987 Mission
1988 I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor!
1989 Broads
1990 Glory and Misery of the Gifted
1990 South
1991 Eastward
1991 The Cinema and the Wind and Photography
1992 Die UFA
1992 The Warm Money
1994 Deduction
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
1995 Pilots
1996 Cuba Libre
1998 The Sex Thief
2001 The State I Am In
2002 Something to Remind Me
2003 Wolfsburg
2005 Ghosts
2007 Yella
2009 Jerichow
2011 Dreileben: Beats Being Dead
2012 Barbara
2014 Phoenix
2017 Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?
2018 Transit
2020 Undine
2023 Afire
2025 Miroirs No. 3
Sound:
1987 Mission
1988 I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor!
1989 Broads
1990 19 Portraits
1990 Glory and Misery of the Gifted
1990 South
1991 Am Rand
1991 Eastward
1991 The Cinema and the Wind and Photography
1992 Die UFA
1992 The Warm Money
1994 Deduction
1994 Vergangen, vergessen, vorüber
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
1995 Pilots
1996 Cuba Libre
1998 The Sex Thief
2001 The State I Am In
2002 Something to Remind Me
2003 Wolfsburg
2005 Ghosts
2007 Yella
2009 Jerichow
2011 Dreileben: Beats Being Dead
2012 Barbara
2014 Phoenix
2017 Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?
2018 Transit
2020 Undine
2023 Afire
2025 Miroirs No. 3
Writer:
1987 Mission
1988 I'm Working Through Everything... Word of Honor!
1989 Broads
1990 19 Portraits
1990 Glory and Misery of the Gifted
1990 South
1991 Am Rand
1991 Eastward
1991 The Cinema and the Wind and Photography
1992 Die UFA
1992 The Warm Money
1994 Deduction
1994 Vergangen, vergessen, vorüber
1995 Imaginary Architecture, the architect Hans Scharoun
1995 Pilots
1996 Cuba Libre
1998 The Sex Thief
2001 The State I Am In
2002 Something to Remind Me
2003 Wolfsburg
2005 Ghosts
2007 Yella
2009 Jerichow
2011 Dreileben: Beats Being Dead
2012 Barbara
2014 Phoenix
2017 Where Do You Stand Today, Christian Petzold?
2018 Transit
2020 Undine
2023 Afire
2025 Miroirs No. 3
Director:
1971 Polizeiruf 110
Writer:
1971 Polizeiruf 110
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.