Like european modernism as a whole, german modernism was in fact a cluster of different literary movements, including expressionism, neue sachlichkeit new objectivity, and dada. The jewish 20 th century in film course number changed to hist. Joshua feinstein this work confronts the question of whether movies in the eastern bloc were propaganda or secretly veiled dissent. Alter explores the relationship between german cinematic practice and the student protests in both east and west germany against the backdrop of the u. Seven films for seven decades by thomas elsaesser introduction germany looks back on almost as long and important a film history as italy, france or great britain. Germany has been divided into two states since 1949. Whereas east german cinema after the end of the second world war received the active support and encouragement of soviet authorities and the east german government, west german cinema received less assistance from the western occupation authorities and. On november 1, 1895 max skladanowsky and his brother emil demonstrated their selfinvented film projector the bioscop at the wintergarten music hall in berlin. The list contains the best, new and most relevant movies set in east germany ordered by relevance. Although horst buchholz only appeared in films from 19551997, there is no doubt that he, and many of his peers, felt the repercussions of nazi germany and the following division of germany.
This is a list, in year order, of the most notable films produced in the soviet occupation zone of germany and the socialist german democratic republic gdr, east germany from 1945 until german reunification in october 1990. Pdf on jan 1, 2006, daniela berghahn and others published east german cinema after unification find, read and cite all. Of these, expressionism is the best known and most important. From the late 1960s east german films focused on everyday life, it could be said that filmmakers presented a static image to show an east germany that accepted the gdr as it was based on the authors thesisstanford. Cinema and media studies cims east through many lenses. C o n n e x i o n s rice university, houston, texas. The triumph of the ordinary depictions of daily life in the east german cinema, 19491989. German cinema was one of hollywoods biggest competitors in the early days of filmmaking, and its easy to see why. Where dreams were put on the silver screen a brief. East german cinema blog a blog about the films of east. A 15minute series of eight short films, it was the first screening of films to a paying audience in.
This programme will bear witness to the diversity and abundance of talented women and men, filmmakers, depicting in different cinematic languages, free. The postwar reconstruction of europe, 19451955 since the end of the cold war, the decade following the second world war has gained new significance. These include history, political science, and anthropology, as well as studies of mass media, sexuality, religion, urban life, and the environment. When it came to the eastern half of the divided screen of cold war germany, they balked. Sebastian heiduschkes book east german cinema was written with the undergraduate student in mind and provides an introduction to major cultural debates in east germany through the lens of its. The separation of east and west german cinema continued until 1989, when the wall finally came down. Siegfried kracauer, who wrote the groundbreaking book from caligari to hitler 1947 on this weimar cinema, is a central figure, as is fritz lang, the most versatile of all weimar. Modern germany is a liberal democracy that has become ever more integrated with and central to a united europe. Pdf east german cinema after unification researchgate. It was probably the most effi cient and eff ective service on the european. This is an excellent study and will be required reading for all students and scholars of this period in german film history. In this new edition, sabine hake discusses filmmaking in economic, political, social, and cultural terms, and considers the contribution of germanys most popular films to changing definitions of genre, authorship, and film form.
Modern germany is a liberal democracy that has become. To graduate from the media and cinema studies curriculum, a student must meet all general university and college requirements for the degree and must complete the following courses, all of which must be taken for a traditional letter grade. Cms offices have moved online for the duration of the spring quarter. Signs of social dissatisfaction with the stalinist state in the 1960s were captured in a series of east german films, which were either immediately banned. The history of cinema in germany can be traced back to the years shortly after the mediums birth. The soviet origins of east german intelligence benjamin b. The rise and fall of the wall the cinema of east germany. Defa and film history is a concise and clearly written introductory text that offers the reader basic information on the film production context for some of the great classics of gdr cinema, produced by this now closed chapter of film history. Postwar german cinema suffers from an oldfashioned image. By the time the berlin wall collapsed, the cinema of the german democratic. Influenced by the french nouvelle vague, it strove to deliver political and social critique and, at the beginning, produced arthouse films on low budgets. The east german narrative, which was created during and after the second world war, was based primarily on the notion of antifascism. Rather, heiduschke emphasizes that his book is a film history of a country 3. From its start after world war ii, to the fall of the berlin wall, defathe official film studio of east germanymade some of the most interesting films to come out of germany during the last half of the twentieth century.
Providing an historical and geographical context for postcolonial theory a thesis presented to the graduate school of clemson university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts history by samuel thadeus scurry may 2010 accepted by. He may have heard about east and west germany, but that only through history books as the two parts of germany existed separately for 45 years from 1945 till 1990, when the berlin wall, the physical border of the two germanys, was brought down, and the two united again. May 28, 2015 from caligari to hitler tells the story of early german cinema as the story of social and cultural upheaval in the first republic, between 1918 and 1933. Cinema and media studies, minor cinema and media studies, our faculty members are housed in departments across sas and the university, and we crosslist courses with various departments and schools, including africana studies, anthropology, communications, east asian language and civilizations, english, fine arts, german, history. German history film and memory in east germany is an important addition to the literature in this rapidly growing area of investigation for a number of reasons. Individual chapters deal with theater in early silent cinema, architecture in the expressionist film, the early sound film and recording industry, the west german revue film, the east german opera film, as well as chapters on the connections of film with radio and television and, closely related, the implications of convergence history for. Unable to make a unique claim to german history and traditions, it categorized germans and outsiders to fashion a story of good versus evil and emphasize the superiority of east german communism. German literature german literature the 20th century.
Defa and film history, edge a graduate journal for german and scandinavian studies. This volume brings together essays on the west and east german cinema of the long 1950s 1949 1961. Some of the history of these countries, however, is naturally mentioned in this history of the rest of africa but is kept to the minimum needed to make the rest comprehensible. Fifty years ago, several films produced in east germany were shelved by the countrys authorities. In the years prior it has established its dictatorship in east germany with soviet backing. Whereas west german film, including new wave cinema, easily became part of their filmic repertoire, anything from the east german staterun film company defa deutsche filmaktiengesellschaft confused them. Germany was a top pioneer in motion picture history, with worldwide recognition in the silent film era. Shortly thereafter, talks between east and west german officials, joined by officials from the united states, great britain, france, and the ussr, began to explore the possibility of reunification.
Nearing the 30 year anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, we explore how five films compare to the real east germany and how east germans. Difference between east and west germany compare the. A social history of german cinema table of contents abstract acknowledgements 1. A young boy from a working class family in postwar germany struggles with his estranged father returning from war captivity, while a friend of his plays for the german national soccer team at the 1954 fifa world cup in switzerland. The new german cinema neuer deutscher film was a child of the manifesto. As living conditions steadily improve in the west german federal republic, the ruling party in the east wages class warfare against its own. This book equips scholars with the historical background to understand east german cinema and guides the readers through the defa archive via examinations of twelve films. Fischer the east german foreign intelligence service, the hauptverwaltung a main directorate a, hereaft er hv a, is the stuff of legends. East germanys film monopoly, deutsche filmaktiengesellschaft, produced a films ranging beyond simple propaganda to westerns, musicals, and childrens films, among others. A further great strength of this text is its location of east german films in the context of eastern european and west ger. Film and memory in east germany indiana university press.
German modernism emerged from turnofthecentury aestheticism. Search the history of over 424 billion web pages on the internet. Where dreams were put on the silver screen a brief history of east german cinema. Some cinematic landmarks of the 1960s in stalinist east. Along with the rest of umass amherst, the defa film library is closing in an effort to flatten the curve. We discuss five films that epitomize the new german cinema and provide an accessible entryway into one of the most intriguing movements in cinema history. Us awareness of the new german cinema began to grow during the mid1970s via various magazine and television reports. Free download east german cinema defa and film history free boook online. Performing race, nation, sexuality in west germany, katrin sieg projecting history.
The recommendation service has sorted out realistic, serious, talky, complex, suspenseful and tense films and tv shows about with cold war, communism, german, politics, friendship, female nudity, berlin wall, espionage, betrayal and state affairs plots mostly in drama, thriller and comedy. Social history, popular culture, and politics in germany geoff eley, series editor ethnic drag. The state owned east german film company defa produced about 800 feature films between 1946 and 1992. It is an important contribution to a reevaluation of german popular cinema and situates itself alongside studies such as heide fehrenbachs cinema in democratizing germany 1995, erica carters how german is she. On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, this retrospective will present films produced between 1946 and 1991, mostly by the east german state film studio, defa. German cinema attracts all ages in recent years and the past.
This is a short history of africa excluding egypt, ethiopia and dutch and british south africa, which are the subjects of separate histories. The artistically ambitious and socially critical films of the new german cinema strove to delineate themselves from what had gone before and the works of auteur filmmakers such as kluge and fassbinder are examples of this, although fassbinder in his use of stars from german cinema history also sought a reconciliation between the new cinema and. Five films that shaped the gdrs legacy and what east. Stasi and east contexts german society bruderorgane.
The authorities in the soviet zone were keen to reestablish the film. German national cinema is the first comprehensive history of german film from its origins to the present. East germanys film monopoly, deutsche filmaktiengesellschaft, produced a films. The triumph of the ordinary depictions of daily life in the. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. Rise and fall of the wall the cinema of east germany. East asian history is an international refereed journal publishing scholarly research on all aspects of historical studies in east asia. This comprehensively revised, updated and significantly extended edition introduces german film history from its beginnings to the present day, covering key periods and movements including early and silent cinema, weimar cinema, nazi cinema, the new german cinema, the berlin school, the cinema of migration, and moving images in the digital era. Rita vogt is a radical west german terrorist who abandons the revolution and settles in east germany with a new identity provided by the east german secret service. Apr 16, 2012 a companion to german cinema offers a wideranging collection of essays demonstrating stateofplay scholarship on german cinema at a time during which cinema studies as well as german cinema have once again begun to flourish. This new online format enables authors to include sound and film files and photomedia within their articles, enlarging the journals scope into fields of historical documentation, such as cinema or music. And yet, during the past seven decades, its cinema has seemed ambivalent even in its achievements, subservient to political pressures, eclipsed by.
This freshman seminar introduces the contemporary middle east by drawing upon cuttingedge studies written from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Although germany existed as a loose polity of germanicspeaking peoples for millennia, a united german nation in roughly its present form dates only to 1871. East and west germany reunite after 45 years history. Alter cities, sin, and social reform in imperial germany, andrew lees the challenge of modernity. Divided city west berlin is cut off from overland supply routes. The book is also useful to the film scholar who is familiar with other national traditions and is. German history, volume 32, issue 4, december 2014, pages 673674. For a young kid today, there is only germany, a powerful country in europe. Catastrophe and identity in postwar german literature. Consequently, east german cinema serves to fill in gaps for the german studies scholar who has worked on a portion of gdr cinema or only with west germany. About this blog this blog is dedicated to the films of defa. East german cinema or who preferred hollywood productions to films they. To prevent smuggling, east german police intensely monitor the border to the western sectors, including at the brandenburg gate foraging helps hunger drives the people of west berlin to forage for food outside the city. The founders fund, established in honor of retired founding director barton byg, aims to support the work of student researchers interested in east german cinema and defa film library collections.
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