“Yella is a modest, haunting, highly economical work that rewards repeated viewings,” writes Chris Darke in Film Comment magazine. “It’s in the choice of narrative framework—something between a ghost story and a dying woman’s dream—that Christian Petzold (The State I Am In, SFIFF 2001), a leading light of the current generation of young German filmmakers, succeeds in making the modern world strange again.” The Mill Valley Film Festival writes, “In this superb metaphysical thriller crafted by acclaimed writer/director Petzold, a woman named Yella decides to leave behind a failed marriage and broken dreams in her small eastern German town for a new life on the other side of the Elbe. In Hanover, she meets Philipp, a young executive at an equity firm, who hires her as his assistant. Although she has no knowledge of the world of venture capital, Yella discovers she has a knack with ruthless businessmen and sees a potential future with Philipp. As she begins to worry that her new life could be too good to be true, strange voices and sounds suddenly start to plague her—truths from her past coming back to haunt her. Nina Hoss, a regular in Petzold’s films, won the Berlin Film Festival's Silver Bear for best actress for her performance in the title role.”

Written by Christian Petzold. Photographed by Hans Fromm. With Nina Hoss, Devid Striesow, Hinnerk Schönemann (89 min, Cinema Guild).