Washington, May 23 -- Austria's Viennale film festival has named German filmmaker Christian Petzold as its new president.

The role was vacant for four years, following the death in 2019 of Eric Pleskow, who had been president from 1998, reported Variety.

Petzold has been "closely connected to the festival for many years as a director and friend," the festival said. Many of his films had their Austrian premieres there.

Eva Sangiorgi, Viennale's director, said, "The Viennale has had a long-standing relationship with Christian Petzold and his filmmaking, and I personally feel a profound connection to his cinema. For this reason, it's a great honor that he is taking over the presidency of the festival. He is such a coherent and consistent ...