Introduction

Abstract

If you are a novice to East German cinema, this book is for you. For some years, I have been teaching courses on German (and German language) film, covering virtually all periods and genres, from the silent film of the expressionist era to the films of the Berlin School. I introduced Westerns, comedies, dramas, documentaries, newsreels, animated pieces, short films, mainstream, and independent productions—you name it. I taught masterpieces and obscure films, and each time, I had no trouble finding appropriate texts to provide a first introduction, a theoretical framework, or an in-depth study of the films I would show my students. Not quite each time, however. Whenever I put the period between 1945 and 1990 on my teaching agenda, I ran into the problem that I suddenly would have not one, but essentially two national cinemas to teach. After Germany had lost World War II, it split into two separate countries, East Germany and West Germany, and each developed its own national film industry. For my film courses covering both halves of the divided screen, finding appropriate texts has become easier and easier over the years.¹ However, when I taught courses on my research specialty—East German cinema—I was often dissatisfied with the selection of books, but not for a lack of outstanding and well-researched texts focusing on numerous fascinating topics and intricate details, I should point out.² Yet whenever I shared my field of research expertise with friends, colleagues, students, and other film scholars who knew nothing about East German cinema, I found it vexing that there was no introductory-length text I could recommend to help them understand my passion for this period of German film.

I am not prone to playing extensively with my brain chemistry anymore (except by watching esoteric Asian and East German cinema).

—Paul Turner, Darkside Cinema