at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Cinema of East Germany
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DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Cinema of East Germany |
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ö-film Rentals The DEFA Film Library distributes films from the Berlin-based production company ö-film to help expand our offering of German films made after unification. Founded in 1990 in Berlin, ö-film is the creation of Katrin Schlösser and Frank Löprich. Many of ö-film’s productions are social studies about daily life in the “new Germany.” Their team has produced a catalog of almost 100 short and feature-length films, most of which have been supported and broadcast by major public German TV stations, and screened and awarded at important international film festivals. Image from Lars Barthel's Mein Tod ist nicht dein Tod. ©oe-film. All rights reserved. New Feature Films You Are Not Alone – Du bist nicht allein Germany, Dir. Bernd Böhlich, 2007, 92 min., color, English subtitles, DVD They all live in the concrete jungle and tristesse of Berlin’s Marzahn district: the decorator Hans Moll (Axel Prahl) and his wife (Katharina Thalbach), the television announcer Ms. Wellinek (Karoline Eichhorn) and her ex (Herbert Knaup), and the Russian Yevgenia (Katerina Medvedeva). And they all have one thing in common: they must risk beginning their lives anew, or become lost. This tragicomedy is the director’s first theatrical release. As in many of his previous works, director Böhlich … pays particular attention to psychological precision, as well as vivid images, expressions and gestures. - German Film Quarterly The way in which Bernd Böhlich takes measure of society in his first cinema film attests to his sensitivity and subtle wit. - Der Spiegel Karger Germany, Dir. Elke Hauck, 2007, 90 min., color, English subtitles, DVD At thirty-something, Karger is a steelworker who has never left the little town between Leipzig and Dresden, where he was born. His life has been monotonous and predictable. He reaches a turning point, however, when he divorces his wife, whom he has loved since childhood, and his father passes away. Ephemeral solutions are short-lived, however. Karger feels an increasing need to change his life, but the more he tries, the less he succeeds. Hauck’s feature film debut was awarded at the 2007 Max Ophüls Film Festival and was selected to compete at the 2007 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Karger … is reminiscent of New German cinema in the 1970s. It follows the same documentary-like format that characterizes Bertolt Brecht, with the same bleak atmosphere. - Massoud Mehrabi, film journalist Hauck uses a detached documentary style to probe the human condition under particular circumstances. - Petra Wehle, 2008 Program, Berlin & Beyond series, San Francisco This film plays with the aesthetic known from old DEFA films. - Die Zeit A little highlight of German cinema. - Hannelore Heider, Deutschlandradio Karger reveals a discreet and unspectacular inventory of life – which makes the film spectacular for the way its scenes flow so harmoniously. - 2008 achtung berlin, new Berlin film award Images by Patrick Orths, who used a digital camera, are reminiscent of other films by young Berlin directors…. Even the steel mill, with its old and almost surreally massive machines, looks beautiful and has a sense of mystery. - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Windows on Monday – Montag kommen die Fenster Germany, Dir. Ulrich Köhler, 2006, 90 min., color, English subtitles, DVD A new city, a new house – it could be a happy moment in the life of this small family. But Nina (Isabelle Menke), a doctor, feels estranged in the half-empty rooms and leaves her family behind. When she returns, she learns that her absence has not been without consequences. A story about middle-class lack of orientation and a study of existential discontent, this elegant chamber piece is painfully honest about the contradictory demands that shape most women’s lives. This film screened at many renowned international film festivals around the world. On a subject that has been filmed and re-filmed, over and over again, a young director gives us a new, refreshing perspective. […] A sensitive work with brilliant performances, it announces the arrival of a very promising talent. - Jury, Ljubljana Film Festival, Slovenia This is Köhler’s huge talent: a detailed observation of daily life. - Der Tagesspiegel New Documentaries My Death Is Not Yours – Mein Tod ist nicht dein Tod Germany, Dir. Lars Barthel, 2006, 95 min., color, English subtitles, DVD Lars Barthel met Chetna Vora, the daughter of an Indian Communist parliamentarian, while they were studying directing in socialist East Germany. They collaborated on each other’s documentary projects and married and had a child. Although Lars obtained an exit visa to go to India, they separated, as Chetna preferred to go to West Berlin. Her subsequent tragic death haunted him until he could make this forthright account about their odyssey together. Discovery Channel Winner at the 2006 International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film; 2007 New Berlin Film Award Winner for Best Documentary. A very personal examination of death. - Program, International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film An autobiographical documentary with a dramatic structure about the difficult art of letting go. - filmz.de Commune of Bliss – Kommune der Seligen Germany/Canada, Dir. Klaus Stanjek, 2004, 96 min., color, English subtitles, DVD Far away from the big cities, in the vast expanse of the Northern Prairies, a withdrawn group of people is practicing its stubborn way of life. Few outsiders have ever had a chance to learn about the communal lifestyle of the Hutterites, direct descendants of radical Anabaptists from the days of the Reformation in Germany. After hundreds of years of fierce persecution and having moved from country to country, the Hutterites have chosen to live apart from the modern world and have been able to preserve their spiritual heritage and strict way-of-life by rejecting modern media. Ιt took 6 long years of preparation before the filmmakers gained the trust of the community and were permitted to "take the picture." For the Hutterites, film and photography are worldly sins, like fostering vanity and "the lust of the eyes." Best Documentary Winner at the 2005 Bozen Film Days. What's it like to see the course of history seemingly halted centuries ago, encountering a people who manage to sustain their utopia as a long-term vision? In Commune of Bliss, we are able to see a radical, fundamentalist vision in practice – a people who are hardly known, although they have been living this way for almost 500 years. - Klaus Stanjek, director Also Available Ingredients for Dreams - Zutaten für Träume Germany, Dir. Gordian Maugg, 2001, 95 min., color, English subtitles, DVD Jutta (Renate Krössner, Solo Sunny) and Eric were once lovers and aspiring chefs in the Spree Forest region of East Germany. Too prone to brilliant but risky improvisation, Jutta fell into obscurity, while Eric defected to the West and became famous. Now he has returned to enlist her aid in a crucial culinary contest. Does this portend rekindled romance or cynical exploitation? A Place in Berlin - Konzert im Freien Germany, Dir. Jürgen Böttcher, 2001, 88 min., color, English subtitles, DVD, documentary Music: Günter “Baby” Sommer (percussion) & Dietmar Diesner (saxophone) History and art in Berlin’s new center. Like a fossil, the Marx-Engels-Forum, a large, ambitious monument project of the GDR, adorns a central historical spot in the middle of Berlin. Böttcher’s experimental documentary transforms footage he shot of the creation of this monument in the 1980s into new material. A story about the loss of a monument’s meaning. Up and Down - Oben-Unten Germany, Dir. Joseph Orr, 1994, 80 min., color, English subtitles For Franz, life is a series of pitfalls. But maybe true love can change things? Franz sees his ideal woman on the tram and searches the whole town for her. This slapstick comedy is set in Berlin when the city was an enormous construction site. Nominated for the 1994 German Film Award. |
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