For the first time, the DEFA Film Library will contribute to the 2023 Sacramento Jewish Film Festival. Festival Director Teven Laxer selected two feature films from the DEFA collection for virtual screenings as part of this year’s festival. Each film follows the life of a German expressionist artist whose personal and artistic life was deeply affected by Nazi politics and World War II. Registered festival participants can stream these films from March 1 to 7.

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“The Lost Angel” (1966/1971) recreates the fateful day on which the expressionist sculptor and author Ernst Barlach learns that the Nazis have dragged his famous 1927 sculpture “The Hovering Angel” — which bears the features of German artist Käthe Kollwitz—out of the Güstrow Cathedral. Kollwitz herself is the subject of Käthe Kollwitz – “Images of a Life” (1986), a masterful production that eloquently captures the determination and sensitivity with which the artist faced personal tragedy and social turmoil during her life.

Both artist biographies were directed by Ralf Kirsten and will not only screen in the festival program but also complement the current exhibit, “A Graphic Art: German Expressionist Prints” from the McNay Art Museum and the Bronston Collection, held at the Crocker Art Museum from Feb. 5 – May 7.