WGBY-TV To Screen DEFA Film Library Titles in September
Aug. 29, 2006
| Contact: | Hiltrud Schulz 413/545-3656 |
AMHERST, Mass. – The DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst announces the upcoming screenings of two films on WGBY-TV, the public television station for Western Massachusetts, along with an interview with Professor Barton Byg, founding director of the DEFA Film Library.
On Sept. 10 at 11 p.m., as part of its fall Indie Film Journal program, WGBY will screen "DEFA Animation: Without Words" – 16 cartoons from the former East Germany. Three of these animated shorts were selected to screen in an East German film retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in October 2005.
On Sept. 17 at 11 p.m., WGBY will screen the new documentary "Verdict on Auschwitz – The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial 1963-1965," which was recently shown at the 27th BANFF World Television Festival Canada, Hors Concours. This documentary is an unparalleled look at the first Auschwitz trial, one of the most important trials in German history. The filmmakers, Rolf Bickel and Dietrich Wagner, used excerpts from 430 hours of original audiotapes of this case, which took place shortly after the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem. The court heard 360 witnesses from 19 countries, including 211 Auschwitz survivors, in proceedings against 22 people accused of taking part in the murder of millions. The film reflects on the investigation, the trial procedures and the verdict.
Verdict on Auschwitz is available from the DEFA Film Library in a two-DVD set with special features and a 36-page booklet, including an essay by Sigrid Bauschinger, UMass Amherst professor emerita of Germanic languages and literatures, and Judaic and Near Eastern studies. This DVD release was supported by the UMass Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, and by Hessischer Rundfunk & hr media.
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