Born in 1933, Jean-Marie Straub left France for Germany to avoid the draft during the Alerian Crisis and became one of the charter members of the New German Cinema movement. While in exile, he was joined by Daniele Huillet (born in 1936), his lifelong companion and artistic collaborator. Since then, they had collaborated aesthetically significant films such as Not Reconciled (1965), Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1967) and Sicilia! (1999). Daniele Huillet died in 2006.