Jordan, Günter
Photo © K. F. Niedner
Biography:
Günter Jordan was born in Leipzig in 1941. He studied Slavic literature, history and pedagogy at the University of Jena and then worked as a teacher. After his studies at the German Academy for Film (now the Academy for Film and Television Potsdam-Babelsberg), he worked at the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films (1969-1991), at first as an assistant cinematographer. In the early 1970s, he directed his own documentaries, including Einmal in der Woche schrein (1982/89) that was part of the 2005 retrospective, Rebels with a Cause: The Cinema of East Germany that premiered at the Museum of Modern Art. He has directed over 40 films for cinema and television.
Jordan has also worked as a film curator and is a published film historian, with over 80 publications to his name. Jordan’s participation in the first Summer Film Institute of the DEFA Film Library in 2001, for example, resulted in an essay on representations of the Holocaust in DEFA documentaries. In 2009, he published the reference work Film in der DDR—described by critics as a ʺmust-have bookʺ—the result of ten years of meticulous research. The volume outlines the institutions and important figures of East German film history; in addition to covering films produced at the DEFA Film Studioes, it also focuses on amateur filmmaking, television productions, the involvement of the Stasi, and film distribution and trade. Günter Jordan lives in Kleinmachnow, near Berlin.
Bibliography & More:
Jordan, Günter, “Zu den Anfängen zurück, um weiterzukommen. Die Geburt des neuen DEFA-Dokumentarfilms in den 1960er Jahren.” In: Die Babelsberger Schule des Dokumentarfilms, ed. Klaus Stanjek. Berlin: Bertz. 2012.
Jordan, Günter, “The Film-Worker Joop Huisken (1901-1979).” In: The Ivens Magazine, Nijmegen: Joris Ivens Europease Stichtung, 2010, Issue 16, October.
Jordan, Günter. Film in der DDR: Daten Fakten Strukturen. Potsdam: Filmmuseum. 2009.
Jordan, Günter, “Davidstern und roter Winkel. Das jüdische Thema in DEFA-Wochenschau und -Dokumentarfilm. DEFA und Holocaust.” In: apropos: Film 2002. Das Jahrbuch der DEFA-Stiftung. Berlin: Bertz. 2002.
Jordan, Günter. “Paul Robeson and Earl Robinson Sing for the GDR.” In: The Ivens Magazine, Nijmegen: Joris Ivens Europease Stichtung, 2002, Issue 8, November.
Jordan, Günter, and Ralf Schenk. Schwarzweiss und Farbe. DEFA-Dokumentarfilme 1946-1992. Berlin: jovis, 1996.
Mückenberger, Christiane, and Günter Jordan. »Sie sehen selbst, sie hören selbst...« Eine Geschichte der DEFA und ihren Anfängen bis 1949. Marburg: Hitzeroth. 1993.
Jordan, Günter. Etwas ist zu Ende. Dokumentarfilmdebatten im letzten Jahr der UdSSR. Augen-Blick 13, Marburg: 1992.
Jordan, Günter. “DEFA‘s Der Augenzeuge: the Newsreel in East Germany, 1946-1949. ” In: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 1993, Vol. 13/1.
Jordan, Günter. Erprobung eines Genres. DEFA-Dokumentarfilm für Kinder 1975-1990. Remscheid: Kinder- und Jugendfilmzentrum der BRD. 1991.
Jordan, Günter. “LTH: Bildsucher und Radikaler. Zum Tod von Leo T. Hurwitz.” In: Film und Fernsehen, 1991, Issue 6-7.
Jordan, Günter. “DEFA-Wochenschau und Dokumentarfilm 1946-1949: neuer deutscher Film in der Nachkriegsgesellschaft zwischen Grundlegung und Wandel von Selbstverständnis, Funktion und Gestalt.” Diss, Humboldt University Berlin. 1990.
Jordan, Günter. Alltag des Dokumentarfilms 1946-1950. Erinnerungen. Podium und Werkstatt 24, Berlin: 1987.
Jordan, Günter. “Der unbekannte Klassiker. Leo Hurwitz.” In: Film und Fernsehen, 1983, Issue 6.
Filmography:
| 2007 | DEFA-Industriefilm: Manfred Gussmann im Gespräch (DEFA Image Film: In Conversation with Manfred Gussmann) |
| 2002 | Erinnerungen an Hugo Hermann (Remembering Hugo Hermann) |
| 2001 | Traum von Jerusalem (Dream of Jerusalem) |
| 2001 | Dans la rue / Mit Pauken und Trompeten (With Drums and Trumpets) |
| 1996 | Behauptung eines Ortes (Stand-Up for a Place) |
| 1994 | Schule machen (Setting a Precedent) |
| 1994 | Die Maßnahme (The Measure) |
| 1993 | ORB: Das erste Jahr. Innenansichten einer Rundfunkstation (The First Year: The View from Inside an East German Broadcasting Station, TV) |
| 1991 | Die verlorene Zeit (The Lost Time) |
| 1989 | Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann (Who’s Afraid of the Bogeyman, doc.) |
| 1989 | Max Hoelz |
| 1988 | Zeitflug (Flight of Time) |
| 1986 | Lebens Lauf. Geschichte einer Schule (The Course of Life. School Stories) |
| 1986 | DEFA: Wurzeln (DEFA: Roots) |
| 1985 | Der lange Weg zum Publikum (The Long Way to the Audience) |
| 1983 | Blaujacken (Marines) |
| 1982/89 | Einmal in der Woche schrein (Yell Once a Week) |
| 1980 | Berlin – Ecke Ostbahnhof (Berlin – Ostbahnhof Corner) |
| 1980 | Kinder von Nordost (Children from Northeast) |
| 1979 | Berlin Auguststraße |
| 1978 | Matrosen in Berlin (Marines in Berlin) |
| 1977 | Die Kraniche fliegen im Keil (The Cranes Are Flying in Formation) |
| 1977 | Copihuito |
| 1976 | Eine Stadt wird gebor’n wie ein Kind (The City Is Born Like a Child) |
| 1972 | Ewa, ein Mädchen aus Witunia (Eva, a Polish Girl from Witunia, co-director) |
| 1972 | Polen in Berlin (Polish People in Berlin, co-director) |