Defa

by Allan, Sean; Sandford, John

• ISBN13: 9781571817532
• ISBN10: 1571817530
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-08-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

East German culture has not lost any of its fascination for western scholars, not even after unification. It is cinema in particular that continues to attract interest. This volume, the first one in English, traces the development of the main institution, the state-sponsored Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), that was responsible for film production in the former GDR from 1946 and ceased to exist in 1992. Although largely ignored outside the former GDR, DEFA produced a number of excellent films and scriptwriters that are examined here for the first time and presented to a wider readership. The themes covered by the contributors include the representation of fascism and antifascism in the cinema of the 1940s and 1950s, the conflicts between the state and the film makers of the 1960s, and the social-political criticism in the 1970s and early 1980s. Other chapters focus on key issues such as the representation of women, the concept of "Heimat, " the reception of the classical heritage, documentary film making before and after unification, and the relation of DEFA cinema to other European film traditions. The comprehensive bibliography makes this volume an indispensable tool for students and scholars of the media.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	vii
List of Illustrations	viii
Preface	ix
DEFA: An Historical Overview	1	(21)
Sean Allan
DEFA and the Traditions of International Cinema	22	(20)
Barton Byg
`Letting the Genie out of the Bottle': DEFA Film-Makers and Film und Fernsehen	42	(16)
Rosemary Stott
The Anti-Fascist Past in DEFA Films	58	(19)
Christiane Muckenberger
Discussion with Kurt Maetzig	77	(16)
Martin Brady
Rebels with a Cause: The Development of the `Berlin-Filme' by Gerhard Klein and Wolfgang Kohlhaase	93	(24)
Horst Claus
DEFA: A Personal View	117	(14)
Wolfgang Kohlhaase
Representations of Work in the Forbidden DEFA Films of 1965	131	(15)
Karen Ruoff Kramer
Censorship and the Law: The Case of Das Kaninchen bin ich (I am the Rabbit)	146	(18)
Stefan Soldovieri
Paths of Discovery: The Films of Konrad Wolf	164	(19)
Anthony S. Coulson
From Models to Misfits: Women in DEFA Films of the 1907s and 1980s	183	(21)
Andrea Rinke
The Concept of `Heimat-GDR' in DEFA Feature Films	204	(18)
Harry Blunk
The Re-evaluation of Goethe and the Classical Tradition in the Films of Egon Gunther and Siegfried Kuhn	222	(23)
Daniela Berghahn
Idealism Takes on the Establishment: Social Criticism in Roland Graf's Film Adaptations of Markische Forschungen (Exploring the Brandenburg Marches) and Der Tangospieler (The Tango Player)	245	(22)
Detlef Gwosc
The Documentary Work of Jurgen Bottcher: A Retrospective	267	(16)
Richard Kilborn
Documenting the Wende: The Films of Andreas Voigt	283	(19)
Helen Hughes
About the Contributors	302	(3)
Appendix: Research Sources for East German Cinema	305	(4)
Select Bibliography	309	(11)
Index	320