Mariana Ivanova to Give Talk at Film Conference in Berlin

Mariana Ivanova, associate professor in German and Scandinavian studies and the academic director of the DEFA Film Library, will give a talk entitled “The Journey as Destination: 1980s DEFA Road Movies” at an international conference in Berlin.

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Hosted by the DEFA Foundation, the conference—Testing Lab: DEFA’s Genre Cinema—will take place May 19-20 and commemorates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the East German DEFA Film Studios.

Ivanova remarked, “After a long break from in-person conferences due to the pandemic, I am looking forward to seeing some of the best-known DEFA filmmakers and scholars at this conference in the heart of Berlin!”

Ivanova’s presentation will focus on the interpretation and reception of the quintessential American genre of Road Movie in socialist film industries. It builds on conversations in an independent study with DEFA Film Library intern and Commonwealth College honors student in economics and German, Nicholas Weiske.