Julian Radlmaier’s Phantoms of July is a spectral fable structured in four chapters that weave folklore, memory and contemporary life. It begins with the tale of a mysterious blue stone in the East German town of Sangerhausen, then shifts to the present-day stories of Ursula, a waitress nursing heartbreak, and Neda, an Iranian YouTuber with a broken arm. Together they embark on a ghost hunt through forests and mountains, surrounded by eccentric locals, nude hikers and the suggestion of apparitions.

Across its four movements, the film evolves from legend to lived encounter, using painterly imagery, wry humour and whimsical strangeness to show how the uncanny can foster connection. Rather than offering a conventional haunting, Radlmaier contextualises contemporary anxieties; the pull of nationalism and the ache of displacement, all within a story that remains lyrical and inviting. Phantoms of July affirms cinema’s ability to reframe the world, uncover unexpected relationships and celebrate the possibility of belonging in places haunted by history and imagination alike.