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**Film series titles will be available to screen at your college, university or cultural institution.
For more information, contact Sky Arndt-Briggs sky[at]german.umass.edu or Hiltrud Schulz video[at]german.umass.edu.**

The Films
    
    • The Architects
    • Burning Life
    • Eastern Landscape
    • Herzsprung
    • Jana and Jan
    • The Land Beyond the Rainbow
    • Latest from the Da-Da-R
    • Leipzig in the Fall
    • Miraculi
    • The Mistake
    • Silent Country
    • The Tango Player
    • The Wall
    • whisper and SHOUT

The Architects – Die Architekten East Germany, 1990, 97 min., color Director: Peter Kahane Cast: Kurt Naumann, Rita Feldmeier, Uta Eisold, Jürgen Watzke, Ute Lubosch Cinematography: Andreas Köfer Screenplay: Thomas Knauf, Peter Kahane Filmed as the GDR crumbled, this somber and nuanced portrait of life in East Berlin depicts a young architect who feels his life and goals are being strangled by communist dogma, represented in part by the older generation. The film team had to rebuild part of the Wall to depict scenes from 1989, as it had been removed so fast. "Telling, finely drawn, superbly acted!"         -The New York Times Peter Kahane, born in Prague in 1949, studied at the Film and Television Academy in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His debut film, Women’s Work, premiered in 1984. Prepared for Love (1987) and the prizewinning Ete and Ali (1984), exemplify Peter Kahane’s superb depictions of everyday life. The Architects was his most critical and politically engaged film. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he took a short break from filmmaking before releasing Cosima’s Lexicon (1992) and To the Horizon and Beyond (1999). In 2006-07, he worked on a portrait of GDR rock icon Tamara Danz, lead singer of the band Silly. Kahane’s most recent film Red Zora (2007), based on the international youth cult novel, was awarded the Golden Gryphon at the 2008 Giffoni Film Festival. Since the mid-1990s, he has also been directing and writing screenplays for TV movies and crime series. Back to Film Index
Burning Life Germany, 1994, 105 min., color Director: Peter Welz Cast: Anna Thalbach, Maria Schrader, Max Tidof, Jaecki Schwarz, Andreas Hoppe, Dani Levy Cinematography: Michael Schaufert Screenplay: Stefan Kolditz In the desolate eastern states of a newly unified Germany, Anna and Lisa plan a series of bank robberies. They quickly become the most popular gangster duo of German postwar history, hunted by the police, but viewed as present-day female Robin Hoods by those in need. Amidst a stellar cast of actors, Maria Schrader (Aimée & Jaguar) and Anna Thalbach (Downfall) light up this German answer to the American road movie Thelma & Louise. • 1995 German Film Award in Gold Peter Welz was born in Berlin in 1963. From 1984 until 1989, he studied directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His thesis at the Academy – the 30-minute short, Welcome to the Cafeteria (Screenplay: Frank Castorf) – won the Allan Parker Prize for direction at the International Festival of Film Academies in Munich. Welz’s Banal Days (1990), about East Germany in the late 1970s, was one of the last films produced at the DEFA studios. Welz is also known for his supporting roles in films such as Icarus (1975) and The Name of the Rose (1986). Since the Wall came down, Welz has made several films for television. Back to Film Index
Eastern Landscape – Östliche Landschaft Germany, 1991, 15 min., color Director: Eduard Schreiber Cinematography: Sebastian Richter Screenplay: Rolf Richter A Berlin dump accumulates the residue of history. As soon as the end of East Germany is proclaimed, people try to get rid of their former lives. Flags, books, official documents, personal belongings and other pieces end up at the dump. • 1991 German Short Film Award Eduard Schreiber was born in Obernitz in 1939. He studied publishing and literature in Leipzig from 1960 to 1964. In 1970, he joined the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films, where he worked as an author and, starting 1972, also as a director. Many of his films reflect his interest in literature and art, including Leningrad - The City of My Writing (1973), about Russian writers, Hermann Hesse 1877-1977 (1977) and Die Brücke Artists Group 1905-1913 (2005). Studies of social and daily life have been a very important part of his work. His filmic essay about the stationing of missiles in Europe, The Time is Now (1987), as well as his long-term project about the pullout of Soviet troops from East Germany, Long after the Battle (1991-1994), broke with East German documentary traditions of heroism. Since 1992, Schreiber has worked as a freelance director and author. Back to Film Index
Herzsprung Germany, 1992, 87min., color Director: Helke Misselwitz Cast: Claudia Geisler, Günter Lamprecht, Eva-Maria Hagen, Nino Sandow, Tatjana Besson, Ben Becker Cinematography: Thomas Plenert Screenplay: Helke Misselwitz In the little town of Herzsprung – whose name can mean either ‘heartbreak,’ or ‘heart leap’ – almost nothing has changed since German unification. Nothing, that is, except a rise in unemployment. Johanna, a young mother and widow, is one of the unemployed and has to live on welfare. To make matters worse, she falls in love with a dark-skinned, roving adventurer and the whole village is talking about it. • 1992 International Film Festival San Sebastian, Special Mention • Nominated for the 1993 German Film Award Helke Misselwitz was born in Planitz in 1947. From 1978 to 1982, she studied directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Her request to enter the DEFA Studio for Feature Films was refused, so she took other jobs while making short essayistic films for the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films. When director Heiner Carow accepted her as a master student at the East German Academy of the Arts in 1985, she created a key documentary about women in the final years of the GDR, Winter Adé (1988); this  was the title film of a retrospective at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival. Misselwitz directed films at the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films from 1988 to 1991. In 1992, she directed her first feature film, Herzsprung, followed by Little Angel (1996). Since 1997, she has worked as professor of directing at the Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Back to Film Index
Jana and Jan – Jana und Jan Germany, 1992, 87 min. Director: Helmut Dziuba Cast: Kristin Scheffer, René Guβ, Julia Brendler, Peter Sodann, Karin Gregorek Cinematography: Helmut Bergmann Screenplay: Helmut Dziuba Fall 1989: Jan is almost 16. Caught while trying to escape to the West, he is now in a reformatory. Here, he meets Jana ... and what starts as a bet, becomes true love. When Jana gets pregnant, the situation spirals out of control. In the summer of 1990, Jana and Jan flee from the reformatory into the unknown, insecure future of a new Germany. • 1993 Bavarian Film Award for Best Director Helmut Dziuba was born in Dresden in 1933. From 1953 to 1962, he studied directing under Sergei Gerassimov and Michail Romm at the Moscow Film Academy (VGIK), with Aleksandr Mitta and Andrei Tarkovsky. After his return to East Germany, he joined the DEFA Studio for Feature Films and became Frank Beyer’s assistant director (Carbide and Sorrel, 1963). Dziuba’s directing debut was the children’s film, Moor and the Ravens of London (1968) and he continued to work on children’s and youth films. His “proletarian trilogy” – Red Ties (1970), When Unku Was Ede’s Friend (1980) and Jan on the Barge (1985) – dealt with personal experiences and the responsibility of young people during the Weimar and Nazi periods. While such historic commentary was allowed, his films on contemporary life –  Sabine Kleist, 7 Years Old (1982), Presence Required (1983) and Forbidden Love (1989) – were not welcomed by East German officials. Dziuba lives in Berlin-Friedrichshagen. Back to Film Index
The Land beyond the Rainbow – Das Land hinter dem Regenbogen Germany, 1991, 89 min., color Director: Herwig Kipping Cast: Franciszek Pieczka, Winfried Glatzeder, Axel Werner, Stefanie Janke, Thomas Ewert, Sebastian Reznicek Cinematography: Roland Dressel Screenplay: Herwig Kipping This harsh, yet poetic critique of Stalinism in East Germany centers on the mythical village of Stalina in 1953. The villagers legitimate injustice by glorifying the idea of real existing socialism … at the same time as they experience their own destruction by the system. Only children – like the Rainmaker and Marie – still believe in the goodness of the people and in true love, and so he conjures a rainbow for her.  Critics credit this film with being one of the most radical [nicht trennen] representations of the GDR – a mixture of Hieronymus Bosch and Breughel. • 1992 German Film Award in Silver • 1992 Berlin Film Festival Herwig Kipping was born in 1948 in Meyen. From 1978 until 1982, he studied at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His thesis film, Hommage à Hölderlin (1982), received praise. Kipping then directed a short film for television, Six on a Roof (1984), a story about roofers; protesting changes and edits to this film earned him expulsion from the Party for “anti-socialist and oppositional activity.” Although he worked as a freelance writer at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films from 1984 to 1989, none of his scripts was accepted. At the same time, however, he became a master student with director Heiner Carow. Finally in 1992, at the age of 43, he premiered his first feature film, The Land beyond the Rainbow (1991) – he had been working on it since 1986. Novalis - The Blue Flower (1993), a love story about the Romantic philosopher and author, was his second and last feature film. Herwig Kipping lives in Berlin. Back to Film Index
Latest from the Da-Da-R – Letztes aus der DaDaeR Germany, 1990, 86 min., color Director: Jörg Foth     Cast: Steffen Mensching, Hans-Eckhardt Wenzel, Irm Hermann, Christoph Hein, Gustav-Adolf Schur Cinematography: Thomas Plenert Screenplay: Steffen Mensching, Hans-Eckhardt Wenzel In a series of cabaret pieces, Steffen Mensching and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel – highly acclaimed East German poets, songwriters and comedians – satirize East German life in the historic year after the Wall came down. The two clowns they play, Meh and Weh, are allowed to leave prison to sing for people outside. As they perform their pieces, however, the country sinks into rebellion, the prison is attacked and looted, and the people chase the clowns away. The title is a wordplay on the irreverent Dada art movement of the 1920s and the German acronym for East Germany – the DDR. "Brecht plus Goethe, times Weill, raised to the power of Eisler, divided by Valentin, equals Wenzel and Mensching."            - Der Tagesspiegel Jörg Foth was born in Berlin in 1949. He studied directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg from 1972 to 1977. After working as an assistant director, his first film was The Call of the Arctic Ocean (1983).  Employed as a director-in-training at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films, Foth had to wait years until he was allowed to direct Biology! (1990) – the only DEFA feature film dealing with environmental issues. Starting in the early 1980s, Foth lobbied for a role for the youngest generation of DEFA filmmakers in studio structures. DEFA finally employed him as a director in spring 1990, a few months before the studio was closed. Since 1991, Foth has worked for television and theater. With Thomas Plenert (camera), he made Waltz in Prenzlauer Berg (1990-1992), a TV documentary about people living in the center of Berlin after unification. Foth lives in Berlin. Back to Film Index
Leipzig in the Fall – Leipzig im Herbst East Germany, 1989, 50 min., b/w Directors: Gerd Kroske, Andreas Voigt Cinematography: Sebastian Richter Screenplay: Gerd Kroske, Andreas Voigt The most comprehensive documentation of the demonstrations and other events in Leipzig from October 16 - November 7, 1989, this film includes interviews with demonstrators, members of the citizens’ rights movement, officials, and bystanders. • Golden Dove, 1989 Leipzig Documentary and Animation Film Festival • 1990 Berlin Film Festival • 2004 Recife Cinema Festival, Brazil Gerd Kroske was born in 1958 in Dessau. He joined the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films in 1987 as a dramaturg and writer. Kroske studied directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Since 1991, he has worked as a freelance writer, director and producer. His films, like Terminus Brest (1993/1994) and The Boxing Prince (2000) have won the most prestigious documentary awards. Andreas Voigt was born in 1953 in Eisleben. He joined the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films in 1978 as a dramaturg and writer. From 1984 to 1987, he studied at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Voigt and his co-director Gerd Kroske received international recognition for their film Leipzig in the Fall (1989). Since 1991, he has worked as a freelance director, scriptwriter and producer. Currently, Voigt is making films that follow up on earlier titles: Borderland – A Journey (1992) and Komi, a Journey Across the Arctic (2007). Back to Film Index
Miraculi Germany, 1991, 105 min., color Director: Ulrich Weiß Cast: Volker Ranisch, Käthe Reichel, Katrin Vogt, Hans-Peter Minetti, Uwe Kockisch, Katrin Waligura Cinematography: Eberhard Geick, Johann Feindt Screenplay: Ulrich Weiß A group of young people draws straws to see who’ll steal some cigarettes. With this theft, Sebastian starts a symbolic and bizarre odyssey through a sclerotic world, in search of himself and of truth and justice. When he tries withdrawing from one social paradigm, he finds himself caught in another…. The fall of the Wall made it possible for director Ulrich Weiß to finally make this long-cherished project, which had been refused by the East German film studio. With a cameo by the outstanding Brechtian actor, Käthe Reichel, one of the co-organizers of the November 4, 1989 demonstration for freedom and democracy in East Berlin. • 1992 Berlin Film Festival "These images of a universal uncertainty represent the shattering of a familiar world."                                        - Erika Richter, apropos: Film Ulrich Weiß was born in Wernigerode in 1942. From 1965 to 1970, he studied cinematography and directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. He started directing at the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films in 1971 and moved to the DEFA Studio for Feature Films ten years later. After making the children’s film, Tambari (1976), he planned his feature film debut, Dance in the Community House, a story about East Germany in the 1950s. The studio management rejected this script, however, as well as many others in the years that followed. Even the films Weiß was allowed to produce – such as the story about a resistance fighter in 1935, Your Unknown Brother (1981), and a film about a professional boxer after WWII, Good Old Henry (1983), which received international praise – were met with indignation by East German officials. After the Wall came down, Weiß finally directed Miraculi (1991), a project he had been planning for over ten years. Back to Film Index
The Mistake – Verfehlung Germany, 1991, 100 min., color Director: Heiner Carow Cast: Angelica Domröse, Gottfried John, Jörg Gudzuhn, Dagmar Manzel, Katja Paryla, Dirk Kummer Cinematography: Martin Schlesinger Screenplay: Wolfram Witt, Heiner Carow It is 1988. Jacob, from Hamburg in West Germany, falls in love with Elisabeth in East Germany. When they secretly meet in East Berlin, it seems the Stasi (secret police) knows about it. It is when Jacob visits her village, however, that someone informs on him and he is deported. Elisabeth knows who begrudges her this love and plans her revenge. Critics note that in this film, director Heiner Carow revisits the themes of his 1972 smash hit The Legend of Paul and Paula, which became a cult film throughout Germany. "An angry look back at a state, one of whose repulsive attributes was interference into the private life of its citizens."                    - Heinz Kersten, Film journalist Heiner Carow was born in Rostock in 1929. From 1950 to 1952, directors Gerhard Klein and Slatan Dudow were his mentors in the DEFA Studio course for young directors. In 1956, Carow made his first feature, Sheriff Teddy, with many similarities to Klein’s Berlin Films. His film, The Russians Are Coming (1968), was banned until 1987 for being “contaminated by modernism.” Despite production problems and controversy, The Legend of Paul and Paula became an unparalleled success and is said to have been the longest-playing film in German cinemas. Carow was awarded many film prizes, including a Silver Bear at the 1990 Berlin Film Festival for Coming Out, which premiered on the evening the Berlin Wall fell – and is the only East German feature film about homosexuality. Carow died in 1997. Back to Film Index
Silent Country – Stilles Land Germany, 1992, color, 98 min. Director: Andreas Dresen Cast: Thorsten Merten, Jeannette Arndt, Kurt Böwe, Burkhard Heyl, Petra Kelling, Horst Westphal Cinematography: Andreas Höfer Screenplay: Laila Stieler, Andreas Dresen A young, naive and enthusiastic director comes to a provincial town in East Germany to put on Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” at the run-down local theater. Although the lethargic company shows no interest in the play, he remains undaunted. Meanwhile it is fall 1989, and somewhere far away in the capital Berlin a revolution is taking place. The parallels inside and outside of the theater are unmistakable. Film historian Ralf Schenk calls this film: “A tragicomedy, the most beautiful and precise film there is about this turning point in East Germany.” • Nominated for the Crystal Globe, 1992 Karlovy Vary Film Festival • 1993 Hesse Film Award • 1993 German Critics’ Award Andreas Dresen was born in Gera, East Germany, in 1963. He initially worked as a sound engineer at the Schwerin Theater, then studied directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. In 1992, Dresen began work as a screenwriter and director. His debut  film, Silent Country (1992), took the 1993 Berlin Film Festival by storm. All his films have received prestigious national and international prizes. Dresen’s latest film, Cloud 9, about a love triangle among elderly people, was an international sensation; it was awarded with the Heart Throb Jury Prize at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and is nominated for the 2009 European Film Academy Award. Dresen, one of Germany’s most admired filmmakers, is currently working with scriptwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase on a tragicomedy about a 50-year-old film star, Whiskey with Vodka. Back to Film Index
The Tango Player – Der Tangospieler Germany, 1991, 96 min. Director: Roland Gräf Cast: Michael Gwisdek, Corinna Harfouch, Hermann Beyer, Peter Sodann, Jaecki Schwarz Cinematography: Peter Ziesche Screenplay: Roland Gräf Dr. Dallow has been released after 21 months in prison for playing piano in a “subversive” cabaret program. The Stasi wants him to become an informant, but he refuses and lives in increasing isolation. In August 1968, Soviet troops march into Czechoslovakia. Dallow stops resisting and accepts the university position he is offered. The Tango Player is based on the novel by (East) German author Christoph Hein, which broached two taboo topics for the first time: the Stasi and the Soviet repression of the Prague Spring in 1968.   • 1991 German Film Award in Gold • Golden Rosa Camuna, 1991 Bergamo Film Festival • Nominated for the Golden Bear, 1991 Berlin Film Festival Roland Gräf was born in 1934 in Meuselbach. He studied cinematography at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg and in 1961 started his career at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films. He worked on over ten films as a director of cinematography with directors such as Jürgen Böttcher (Born in ‘45). Gräf’s directing debut was a sensitive coming-of-age story, My Dear Robinson (1970). His Banquet for Archilles (1975) is a portrait of a worker whose non-heroic approach was unusual for the period. All his films – including The House at the River (1985), based on a WWII story by Friedrich Wolf and the biography, Fallada - The Last Chapter (1988) – present profound psychological portraits and important contributions to German film history. Back to Film Index
The Wall – Die Mauer East Germany, 1989/90, 98 min., color & b/w Director: Jürgen Böttcher Cinematography: Thomas Plenert Screenplay: Jürgen Böttcher A poetic and enigmatic documentary from painter and filmmaker Jürgen Böttcher, who relies on sight and sound to contemplate the Berlin Wall’s historic and symbolic significance. This masterpiece, shot by the renowned director of cinematography, Thomas Plenert, reflects the soul of Berlin, both in the past and as the Wall came down. • 1991 European Film Prize for Best Documentary • 2006 Berlin Film Festival Jürgen Böttcher, also known as the painter “Strawalde,” was born in 1931 in Frankenberg. He studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts from 1949 to 1953, during which time he worked as an independent artist and taught night school, where he met the now famous painter A.R. Penck. From 1955 to 1960, Böttcher studied directing at the Film Academy in Potsdam-Babelsberg; he then worked as a director at the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films until 1991. Having made more than 30 artistically provocative films, he has attained cult status among cineastes. Jürgen Böttcher has been working as an independent artist since 1991 and currently lives in Berlin. His only feature film, Born in ’45 (1966/1990), was part of the 2005 retrospective “Rebels with a Cause” at The Museum of Modern Art. For his contributions to film he was awarded the Berlinale Camera at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. Böttcher lives in Berlin. Back to Film Index
whisper & SHOUT – flüstern & SCHREIEN East Germany, 1988, 120 min., color Director: Dieter Schumann Cinematography: Michael Lösche Screenplay: Dieter Schumann, Jochen Wisotzki Young people use music to express their new awareness of life and generational opposition to their parents, as well as to protest the social and political climate in East Germany. In this road movie, the director talks with fans and members of various bands to document parts of the East German music scene of the late 1980s. The film introduces bands such as Silly, Chicorée, Sandow and Feeling B. • 1989 Berlin Film Festival Dieter Schumann was born in Ludwigslust in 1953. From 1970 to 1973, he trained as a professional seaman while earning his high-school diploma. He worked as an assistant director at East German television from 1976 to 1978, before studying directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. From 1983 to 1991, he was a director at the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films. He mainly directed short films before he worked on his major documentary, whisper & SHOUT (1988). In 1994, he reviewed the material he had gathered for this film and produced a follow-up. Schumann works as a director, author and producer for television projects. Back to Film Index

Tour Dates

• Feb. 28 - Mar. 12 | Los Angeles
• Sept. 29 - Nov. 8 | Goethe-Institut San Francisco
• Oct. 1 - Oct. 23 | Goethe-Institut Montreal
• Oct. 5 - Nov. 30 | Goethe-Institut Washington, in collaboration with the German Historical Institute
• Oct. 8 - Oct. 11 | Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (presented by the Goethe-Institut Boston)
• Oct. 13 - ongoing until 2010 | University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Oct. 16 - Nov. 13 | Deutsches Haus at NYU
• Nov. 9 - Nov. 11 | University of Scranton

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For Tour Participants

* All photos are copyrighted. ©DEFA Film Library. All rights reserved.
* Click on the individual thumbnails for high-resolution images of each film.
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Architects, The	Burning Life	Eastern Landscape	Herzsprung	Jana and Jan
Land beyond the Rainbow, The	Latest from the Da-Da-R	Leipzig in the Fall	Miraculi	Mistake, The
Silent Country	Tango Player, The	Wall, The	whisper & SHOUT

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