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East German Cinema

DEFA and Film History

  • Book
  • © 2013

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Authors:
  1. Sebastian Heiduschke
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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Introduction

    1. Introduction

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 1-6

  3. East German Cinema

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7
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    2. East German Cinema as State Institution

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 9-18

    3. Reciprocities and Tensions: DEFA and the East German Entertainment Industry

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 19-30

    4. A Cultural Legacy: DEFA’s Afterlife

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 31-40

  4. Freezes and Thaws: Canonizing DEFA

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-43
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    2. The Rubble Film, Wolfgang Staudte, and Postwar German Cinema: Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are among Us, Wolfgang Staudte, 1946)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 45-51

    3. Fairy Tales And Children’s Films as Eternal Blockbusters: Die Geschichte Vom Kleinen Muck (The Story of Little Mook, Wolfgang Staudte, 1953)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 53-59

    4. The Gegenwartsfilm, West Berlin as Hostile Other, and East Germany as Homeland: The Rebel Film Berlin—Ecke Schönhauser (Berlin SchöNhauser Corner, Gerhard Klein, 1957)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 61-67

    5. The Birth of DEFA Genre Cinema, East German Sci-fi Films, New Technologies, and Coproduction with Eastern Europe: Der schweigende Stern (Silent Star, Kurt Maetzig, 1960)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 69-75

    6. Film Censorship, the East German Nouvelle Vague, and the “Rabbit Films”: Das Kaninchen bin ich (The Rabbit Is Me, Kurt Maetzig, 1965)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 77-83

    7. Renegade Films, Defa Musicals, and the Genre Cinema: Heißer Sommer (Hot Summer, Joachim Hasler, 1968)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 85-91

    8. More Genre Cinema, the “Red Western,” and Stardom in East Germany: Apachen (Apaches, Gottfried Kolditz, 1973)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 93-98

    9. Gender, Class, and Sexuality: Ending Taboos in Die Legende von Paul und Paula (The Legend of Paul and Paula, Heiner Carow, 1973)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 99-105

    10. DEFA and the Holocaust, the Antifascist Legacy, and International Acclaim: Jakob der Lügner(Jacob the Liar, Frank Beyer, 1974)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 107-113

    11. The Women’s Film, Konrad Wolf, and Defa After the “Biermann Affair”: Solo Sunny (Konrad Wolf, 1980)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 115-121

    12. Passed by History: Dystopia, Parable, and Bookend: Die Architekten (The Architects, Peter Kahane, 1990)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 123-129

    13. The Wendeflicks, Jörg Foth, and DEFA after Censorship: Letztes aus der Da-Da-eR (Latest from the Da-Da-eR, Jörg Foth, 1990)

      • Sebastian Heiduschke
      Pages 131-137

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 139-196
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Keywords

About this book

East Germany's film monopoly, Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft, produced a films ranging beyond simple propaganda to westerns, musicals, and children's films, among others. 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.

Reviews

“Sebastian Heiduschke has produced a fine introduction to the cinema of East Germany that is aimed at a general, English-speaking student audience without previous exposure to the films of this now-defunct socialist country.” (Stefan Soldovieri, Monatshefte, Vol. 108 (3), 2016)

“Heiduschke’s East German Cinema is a great resource for anyone interested in the history of post-World War II Germany and its profound and lasting effect on the state of both German and international cinema today. For the individual films themselves, this book essentially serves as a starter’s guide to east German films, selecting only a handful of the hundreds of films produced by DEFA.” (Stephen Belden, Film Matters, Vol. 6, 2015)




"Sebastian Heiduschke's East German Cinema: 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. Presenting an abridged history of the DEFA studio, Heiduschke discusses the ups and downs experienced by filmmakers as they negotiate periods of liberalization and repression." - Jan-Christopher Horak, Director, UCLA Film and Television Archive, USA

About the author

Sebastian Heiduschke is an assistant professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Oregon State University.

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