Carla

(Karla)

GDR, 1965/1990, 129 min, b&w
In German; English subtitles
Credits:
Director
Script
Dramaturg
Editor
Camera
Set Design
Costume Design
Music (Score)
Cast

Synopsis

When she discovers her students are hiding their true thoughts and feelings, Carla (Jutta Hoffmann), a young and idealistic teacher at the start of her career, goes against the routine opportunism, hypocrisy and small-mindedness all around her. Her superiors view her actions with unease, however, and eventually step in to discipline her.

 

This film, written by renowned author Ulrich Plenzdorf, was considered nihilistic, skeptical and hostile by officials. It became one of the dozen East German films banned in 1965-66. Only in 1990, after the fall of the Wall, was Carla finally screened in cinemas.

Awards

2018 Images of the Future: The Cinema of East Germany, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2016 Retrospective, Germany 1966, Museum of Modern Art, New York
2016 Retrospective, Germany 1966, Berlin International Film Festival
1990 FIPRESCI Prize – Honorable Mention, Forum of New Cinema, Berlin International Film Festival
1990 Interfilm Award – Honorable Mention, Forum of New Cinema, Berlin International Film Festival

Press comments

“An insight into GDR history.”
— Margit Voss, Filmspiegel

 

“A psychological, intimate play.”
Lexicon of International Film

 

“Jutta Hoffmann reminds us of young Giulietta Masina in La Strada.”
— Ralf Schenk, film historian

 

“The Carla film began as a crumpled bundle of carbon copy sheets. No mention of a story with a beginning and an end; the teacher did not have any trace of conflict. An easy-going dabbed impression. But with such good dialogs, so much feeling for characters and situations and with quirky jokes to my taste, so new and fresh! I had to meet this man immediately. (...) My first encounter with Plenzdorf.”   —Herrmann Zschoche, Spur der Zeiten

 

Availability

Buy the DVDStream
DVD Bonus Features:
  • Biographies & Filmographies
  • Ulrich Plenzdorf on the Making of Carla, 1993

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