Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Films for 2014: #7. Christian Petzold’s Phoenix

Published on March 7, 2014

Phoenix

Director: Christian Petzold
Writer: Christian Petzold
Producers: Schramm Film Koerner & Weber
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Uwe Preuss

One of the best films of 2012 happened to be Christian Petzold’s film Barbara starring the exquisite Nina Hoss. Petzold has been steadily churning out remarkable work in feature films since his 2000 debut The State I Am In (and for several years prior in television). While Hoss has headlined a few of his works (Yella, Jerichow ), the Berlin premiered Barbara finally seemed to command the attention he’s deserved (he won the Director Silver Bear), and he’s back again with Hoss in tow for another period piece, Phoenix (which also reunites him with Ronald Zehrfeld).

Gist: While Barbara was set in the German Democratic Republic of the early 1980s, Phoenix goes back to the post-Second World War era, focusing on a woman who has survived the Holocaust. Presumed dead, she returns home under a new identity to find out if her husband betrayed her.

Release Date: In post-production since late 2013, this could be ready for a Cannes rendez-vous, but we’ll likely see it for a Venice/TIFF premieres.

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Related Topics:Christian Petzold, Nina Hoss, Phoenix, Ronald Zehrfeld, Top 200 Most Anticipated Films of 2014

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.