Christian Petzold’s films are like no one else’s. At once intricately engaged with the real world and steeped in film history, he masterfully reimagines genres such as film noir, thriller and the spy drama. With slow-burning nostalgia, and profoundly romantic, his films capture lovers in the midst of fate and discord, or as the tittle of his celebrated trilogy connotates: Love in the Time of Oppressive Systems. Often returning to the promise of impossible reconciliation, Europe’s turbulent past is framed through the lens of an uncertain present. Characters shift in and out of places and identities – whether the protagonist of Transit travels to occupied Marseille, or the family in The State I Am In moves constantly to avoid capture. Follow the watery erotica and the fiery hair of contemporary Undine; Christian’s films always set a beautiful dialogue between present and past histories.