Spring Takes Time (Der Frühling braucht Zeit) was one of the twelve films banned in the wake of the notorious 11th Plenum. Along with The Rabbit is Me, it's one of the only films that made it into the theaters before the axe came down. While some of the 11th Plenum bans seemed downright silly …
Category: Banned
The Persons Involved
The Persons Involved (Die Beteiligten) was released in June 1989. It was the last Kriminalfilm (Krimi) released by DEFA before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's based on an actual crime that occurred back in the early sixties. The film follows the story of two police inspectors investigating the drowning death of a young …
Fire Below Deck
Fire Below Deck (Feuer unter Deck) was first screened in theaters in 1982, and then only very briefly, but it had been scheduled to be released in 1977. This happened from time to time in East Germany when a film touched on some hot-button topic that either upset the authorities or discussed something that was …
Farewell (Abschied)
In the history of East German films, the period between the 11th Plenum and Erich Honecker’s takeover from Walter Ulbricht is regarded as a dark time for DEFA films. That’s not to say there weren’t good, entertaining films made during this time. After all, this period saw the introduction of the Indianerfilm, Hot Summer, and …
The Lost Angel
Ernst Barlach was a German artist well-known for his plays, paintings, and particularly his sculptures. which powerfully expressed his feelings against war and the suffering it brings. Barlach wasn’t always against war. Prior to the First World War, he, like most Europeans, saw war as a noble endeavor, fighting to uphold and protect the values …
Hands Up or I’ll Shoot!
For a perfect example of the utter lunacy of the 11th Plenum, you need look no further than Hands Up, or I’ll Shoot! (Hände hoch oder ich schieße). This film is as innocuous a movie as one could hope for, yet the SED felt the need to ban it alongside nearly every other film slated …
Just Don’t Think I’ll Cry
Ever wonder what it would be like to be James Dean growing up in East Germany? Look no further than Just Don’t Think I’ll Cry (Denk bloß nicht, ich heule), which captures that same inchoate teenage angst, but from an East German perspective. This film could not have been made before 1963. That was the …
Karla
1966 was a rough year for film in East Germany. The 11th Plenum of the previous December pulled the rug out from under some of the most intelligent and creative film talent to come out of any country at any time. East German cinema was on the verge of matching the French New Wave in …
Jadup and Boel
By 1980, the East German authorities had nearly perfected the approval process for feature films. After the debacle of the 11th Plenum in 1965, when a dozen films were rejected either for being too frivolous or not socialist enough, DEFA settled into a safe routine, usually avoiding contemporary subjects, and instead concentrating on historical biographies, …
Underground Film in the GDR
When we talk of East German films, we are mostly talking about the films of DEFA, the GDR’s state-owned motion picture production company, and, to a lesser extent, the made-for-TV films from DFF. All other feature films shown in East German cinemas came from other countries, with Russia at the top of the list. If …
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