In 1991, less than two years after the Berlin Wall came down, a film called Go Trabi Go hit the cinemas in Germany. It’s the story of a man, his wife, and their bored teenage daughter who—taking advantage of the newly available European West—drive to Italy in their trusty old Trabant. While the husband is …
Category: Teenagers
Biology!
In 1989, the government in the GDR had begun to relax its restrictions on artistic expression, allowing films to explore topics that would have been taboo a few years earlier. It was too little too late. The whole edifice came crashing down spectacularly on November 9th, 1989. The few films that were already “in the …
Marta, Marta
Every once in a while, a television movie comes along that becomes as much a part of media literacy as any feature film. It’s the one that everyone was talking about the next day at work and continued to talk about for years after. Think Duel, or Brian’s Song, or, if you’re from Britain, The …
Love at 16
Love at 16 (Liebe mit 16) belongs to a list of DEFA films that focus on the concerns of teenagers. The list includes Just Don’t Think I’ll Cry, Too Young for Love, Seven Freckles, Swan Island, Damn It, I'm Grown Up, Jana and Jan, and Just Married. The story in this film centers around sixteen-year-old …
Damn It, I’m Grown Up
East Germany lasted forty years. During that time—DEFA, the state’s film production company—made roughly 950 films. Not many when you consider that the film studios in India make more movies than this in a year.1 Nonetheless, during those years, DEFA made several movies exploring the hopes, fears, and dilemmas faced by young people in the …
Just Married
In 1978, director Herrmann Zschoche’s film Seven Freckles was a huge hit. That film told the story of two young lovers meeting and falling in love at a summer camp, where they're cast as Romeo and Juliet in a camp production of Shakespeare’s play. Eleven years later, Zschoche returned to the subject of young love, …
What Should I Watch?
New to East German films? Here are a few from DEFA with English subtitles that are well worth seeing. All of these films are currently available on the Kanopy streaming service. I’m often asked for recommendations on East German movies that people should watch. There’s no one answer to this. I once showed my personal …
Do You Know Urban?
While recuperating in the hospital Hoffi (Berndt Renné) meets Urban (Manfred Karge). Urban has worked as an engineer on projects all over the world, and Hoffi sees him as a source of meaningful employment. Hoffi just spent 1½ years in prison on an assault charge, and nobody wants to hire an ex-con. Hoffi hopes to …
A Girl of 16½
A popular wall poster for the young people who opposed the Vietnam War read: “War is unhealthy for children and other living things.” After World War II, Germany saw the full effect of this. German fathers were either killed or imprisoned, and the mothers waiting at home fell prey to the Allied bombs. Parents would …
5+1 Films That Look Back at the GDR
My next article on the East Germany Cinema Blog is going to take at least another week of work, so, in the meantime, here’s a listicle to keep things moving. These are five (plus one bonus film) of the best post-Wende films on the subject of life in East Germany that I have seen. I’ve …
East German Cinema Blog 