Made during the final days of the East German republic, Farewell Disco is very much a period piece and an important film in the history of DEFA.
Category: Wende
The Female Director of East Germany, Pt. 2: The DFF Directors
In my last article, I looked at the women who made feature films for DEFA. Even more overlooked—but no less worthy of attention—are the women who directed films for Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF), the GDR’s state-run television station broadcaster.1 For DEFA directors, especially after the 11th Plenum, television was sometimes used as a form of punishment …
Continue reading The Female Director of East Germany, Pt. 2: The DFF Directors
Location Hunting
When documentary filmmaker Rüdiger Stein decides to make a film about an ordinary couple, he finds that he's bitten off more than her can chew.
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 …
Private Party
In Frank Beyer's Private Party (Geschlossene Gesellschaft),1 Robert (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and Ellen (Jutta Hoffmann) are a seemingly happy married couple. Robert is a talented engineer whose work just saved the state a million Marks, and Ellen works for the youth services with disadvantaged teens. They decide to go on holiday with some friends. They invite …
Novalis: The Blue Flower
Novalis: The Blue Flower (Novalis – Die blaue Blume) is recognized as the last film to be released by DEFA before the East German film production company closed its doors. The film is told episodically as the poet Novalis is lying on his deathbed. It’s a kaleidoscopic look at events in the poet’s life, up …
Ol’ Witch
Alongside the fairytale films that DEFA made throughout its existence, they also made a few films that would have been considered fairytales, were it not for the fact that they took place in modern times. The first of these was In Search of the Magical Bird (Die Suche nach dem wunderbunten Vögelchen). The film takes …
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 …
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 …
Held for Questioning
The backstory of Held for Questioning (Der Aufenthalt) is the story of a film that was made against all odds, by a director that DEFA had, essentially, written off the books. Frank Beyer was one of the best filmmakers in East Germany. He proved this time and again, with movies such as Five Cartridges, Naked …
