Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (born 8 December 1935) is a German film director and intellectual. For Syberberg, cinema is a form of Gesamtkunstwerk. Many commentators, including Syberberg himself, have characterized his work as a cinematic combination of Bertolt Brecht's doctrine of epic theatre and Richard Wagner's operatic aesthetics. Syberberg is best known for his 'German trilogy', consisting of Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King (1972), Karl May (1974), and Hitler: A Film from Germany (1977), the latter of which receives rare theatrical screenings due to its seven-hour runtime.