Transit

April 7, 2019 · Knoxville Museum of Art · 2:00 p.m.

As fascism spreads, German refugee Georg (Franz Rogowski) flees to Marseille and assumes the identity of the dead writer whose transit papers he is carrying. Living among refugees from around the world, Georg falls for Marie (Paula Beer), a mysterious woman searching for her husband—the man whose identity he has stolen. Adapted from Anna Segher’s 1944 novel, Transit shifts the original story to the present, blurring periods to create a timeless exploration of the plight of displaced people.

“By turns intimate and expansive, Transit is a thrilling, at times harrowing labyrinth of a movie.” — The New York Times

“Anyone who appreciates cinema’s underrated capacity to confound–to really sabotage our understanding of what’s transpiring–will get a rush from the way Petzold constantly shifts the ground underneath our feet.” — AV Club

“Transit invites viewers to trace their own speculative connections between Seghers’ narrative and the contemporary rise in neo-Nazism and anti-refugee sentiment, all while its surtext remains achingly moving.” — Variety

About the Filmmaker

Christian Petzold is among the finest filmmakers working today. A member of the so-called “Berlin School,” a group of German directors who first emerged in the 1990s (including Valeska Grisebach, whose film Western screened at The Public Cinema), Petzold is known for mixing genre conventions with precise political and historical analysis. As a result, his films are somehow both classical and shockingly strange.

Petzold’s previous film, Phoenix (2014), earned him a larger audience in the States, including a month-long run at Downtown West. We’re very pleased to bring Transit to Knoxville.