Phoenix

June, 1945. Badly injured, her face destroyed, Auschwitz survivor Nelly returns to her hometown, Berlin. She’s accompanied by Lene, a Jewish Agency employee and Nelly’s friend from pre-war days. Having barely recovered from facial surgery, Nelly ignores Lene’s warnings and sets out to find her husband, Johnny – the love of her life who, by refusing to abandon their marriage, protected her from Nazi persecution for so long. Nelly’s family has been murdered in the Holocaust. Johnny is convinced that his wife, too, is dead. When Nelly finally tracks him down, he recognizes nothing but an unnerving resemblance and doesn’t believe it could really be her. Hoping to secure her family’s inheritance, Johnny suggests to Nelly that she take on the identity of his late wife. Nelly agrees: She becomes her own impostor. She wants to know whether Johnny loved her – and whether he betrayed her. Nelly wants her old life back.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Christian Petzold
Cinematography: Hans Fromm
Editing: Bettina Bοhler
Sound: Andreas Mucke-Niesytka
Music: Stefan Will
Actors: Nina Hoss (Nelly Lenz), Ronald Zehrfeld (Johnny Lenz),Nina Kunzendorf (Lene Winter)
Production: Schramm film Koerner & Weber production,Germany T. +49 30 261 5140 F. + 49 30 261 5139 schrammfilm@snafu.de www.schrammfilm.de
Producers: Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber
Co-production: Bayerischer Rundfunk & Westdeutscher Rundfunk & ARTE (Germany)
Costumes: Anette Guther
Production Design: K.D. Gruber
Format: DCP Color
Production Country: Germany
Production Year: 2014
Duration: 98
Contact: The Match Factory, GermanyT. +49 30 443 190 520F. +49 30 443 190 530info@matchfactory.dewww.the-match-factory.com

Christian Petzold

He was born in Hilden in 1960. He studied German and theater at the Freie Universitat Berlin, then film directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). He worked as assistant director to Harun Farocki and Hartmut Bitomsky. His films have won numerous prestigious awards including the International Federation of Film Critics’ Award at the Berlinale Panorama and the Grimme Prize for Wolfsburg; the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and the German Film Award for Nina Hoss in Yella; and the German Film Critics’ Award for Jerichow, which was also selected for the competition at the Venice Film Festival. Barbara won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2012 Berlinale and was selected as one of the “top five foreign language films” by the USA’s National Board of Review.

Filmography

(selected)
2002 Toter Mann / Something to Remind Me
2003 Wolfsburg
2005 Gespenster / Ghosts
2007 Yella
2008 Jerichow
2011 Dreileben / Beats Being Dead (TV)
2012 Barbara
2014 Phoenix