Retrospectives

Solidarity! The Chilean Experience in East German Cinema

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary and in memory of the victims of the military coup in Chile, the Berlin-based DEFA Foundation newly digitized and subtitled in English and Spanish eighteen feature, documentary and animation films from their holdings. All these films deal with the Chilean experience through East German filmmaking. 

 

On September 11, 1973, the military coup d’état in Chile backed by the Nixon administration and the CIA overthrow the democratically elected government. The coup, led by General Augusto Pinochet, came three years after the democratic election of Salvador Allende as president. As the leader of the Unidad Popular, an alliance of socialist, communist and left-liberal parties, Allende had introduced reforms to establish a social system in Chile. The coup turned back the progressive developments and brought profound political changes to the country. Thousands of people disappeared or were assassinated in its aftermath, and tens of thousands of “political enemies” were imprisoned in the National Stadium.

 

In the following years, over one hundred thousand Chileans were arrested, tortured, imprisoned or murdered, while others fled Chile to seek refuge in other countries. East Germany accepted asylum seekers under the motto "Solidarity with Chile," but stipulated that only supporters of the Unidad Popular were to be granted refuge. In the mid-1970s, there were approximately 2,000 Chileans* living and working in East Germany, among them many intellectuals, writers, filmmakers and actors. Official statements about the presence of Chilean refugees painted a positive picture that contradicted the realities of life for these expatriates living in the GDR. For example, highly educated Chileans could only find work in production jobs. In the 1980s, many Chileans left the GDR for Western Europe or had to return to Chile.

 

In the 1970s, the East German DEFA Studios also responded to the historic events of 1973 in Chile. DEFA films about Chile or Chilean exiles were not simply reactions to the political upheavals or demonstrations of solidarity with the Chilean people. In many cases, Chilean artists were directly involved in the creation of these films: Juan Forch wrote and directed politically engaged short films at the DEFA Studio for Animation Films from 1974 to 1978; Vivienne Barry (Juan Forch’s wife at the time) worked as a DEFA animator; the director Orlando Lübbert lived in West Germany but made one feature film for DEFA; and the writer Omar Saavedra Santis wrote a novel that was adapted to a DEFA film. Many of the films feature Chilean music, including by Aparcoa, a band whose members lived in East Germany, or by composer Sergio Ortega who was exiled in France.

 

* This seems to be the most accurate number published and used in official documents after the Berlin Wall came down.

 

Newly digitized films with English and Spanish subtitles

 

Feature Films:

Shorts by Juan Forch:

  • Chile (Chile, 1975, dirs. Juan Forch, Jörg Herrmann, 2 min, color, silhouette animation)
  • Chile Lives (Chile lebt, 1976, dirs. Michael Börner, Juan Forch, 2 min, color, animation)
  • Hitlerpinochet (Hitlerpinochet, 1975, dirs. Juan Forch, Jörg Herrmann, 3 min, color, animation)
  • La Brigada – A Mural for the Unidad Popular in Dresden (Brigada - Ein Beitrag zur Solidarität anläßlich der 16. Arbeiterfestspiele 1976 in Dresden, 1976-77, dirs. Juan Forch, Rolf Hofmann, 11 min, color, doc.)
  • Lautaro (Lautaro, 1977, dir. Juan Forch, 18 min, color, cutout animation)
  • Neutron Peace? (Neutronenfrieden?, 1977, dir. Juan Forch, 3 min, color, cut-out animation)
  • Nobody Can Stop the Revolution (Die Revolution kann keiner aufhalten, 1976, dir. Juan Forch, 6 min, color, animation)
  • Rosaura (Rosaura, 1978, dir. Lothar Barke, 6 min, color, animation)

Documentaries:

  • A Chilean Wedding (Eine chilenische Hochzeit, 1977, dirs. Valentin Milanov, Rainer Ackermann, 8 min, b/w, doc.)
  • Aparcoa (Gruppe Aparcoa, 1977, dir. Jürgen Steinheisser, 6 min, color, doc.)
  • Copihuito (Copihuito, 1977, dir. Günter Jordan, 14 min, color, doc.)
  • El Golpe Blanco – The White Coup (El Golpe Blanco – Der weisse Putsch, 1975, dirs. Walter Heynowski, Gerhard Scheumann, 70 min., b/w, doc.)
  • Fellow Citizens (Mitbürger, 1974, dirs. Walter Heynowski, Gerhard Scheumann, 7 min, b/w, doc.)
  • Money Troubles (Geldsorgen, 1975, 6 min., dirs. Walter Heynowski, Gerhard Scheumann, b/w & color, doc.)
  • Psalm 18 (Psalm 18, 1974, 5 min., dirs. Walter Heynowski, Gerhard Scheumann, b/w, doc.) 

 

The films are available for rental on HD 264 | mp4 files with English and Spanish subtitles. 
You can also license the films for DSL or stream them on Kanopy.com

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