Junge, Winfried

Biography:

Winfried Junge was born in Berlin in 1935. He enrolled in the German Literatur program at Berlin’s Humboldt University in 1953, then transferred to the newly-founded German Film Academy in Potsdam-Babelsberg (now the Academy for Film and Television) a year later to study dramaturgy.

 

After graduating in 1958, he began his work as a dramaturg at the DEFA Studio for Popular Science Films, and later worked primarily as an assistant director to Karl Gass. Both directors joined the DEFA Studio for Documentary Films in 1961. Junge has made some fifty documentaries for both cinemas and television, including productions filmed in Syria, Somalia, Libya, Great Britain and the Ukraine. His oeuvre also includes one feature film for children, Der tapfere Schulschwänzer.

 

But Junge’s most important work was a long-term documentary project called the Kinder von Golzow. Based on an idea by Karl Gass, the films in the series cover almost five decades of the lives of people born in the little town of Golzow; the first film, Wenn ich erst zur Schule geh’, was Junge's first solo film and shows the participants in the longitudinal study starting school, just a few days after the Berlin Wall was built in 1961.

 

This series—on which Junge collaborated with his wife, Barbara Junge (script, editing, co-director)—encompasses twenty films made between 1961 and 2007. Worldwide, the Children of Golzow project is only rivaled in length by the British UP series (1964-2012, directed by Paul Almond, Michael Apted); together, these are the longest-running chronicles in the history of international documentary.

 

 

Filmography:

Complete Children of Golzow Series

 

2007 Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute... – Die Kinder von Golzow. Das Ende der unendlichen Geschichte… Teil 3+4 (And If They Haven’t Passed Away – The Children of Golzow. The End of the Endless Story, Part 3+4)
2005 Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind... – Die Kinder von Golzow. Das Ende der unendlichen Geschichte… Teil 1+2 (And If They Haven’t Passed Away, They Would Be Still Alive Today – The Children of Golzow. The End of the Endless Story, Part 1+2)
2003 Eigentlich wollte ich Förster werden – Bernd aus Golzow (Actually I Wanted to Be a Forester – Bernd from Golzow)
2001 Jochen - ein Golzower aus Philadelphia (Jochen –  A Golzower from Philadelphia)
1999 Ein Mensch wie Dieter – Golzower (A Person Like Dieter from Golzow)
1998 Brigitte und Marcel - Golzower Lebenswege (Brigitte and Marcel – Life Paths from Golzow)
1997 Da habt ihr mein Leben, Marieluise – Kind von Golzow (I’ll Show You My Life: Marieluise – A Child of Golzow)
1996 Was geht euch mein Leben an, Elke - Kind von Golzow (My Life Is My Own Affair: Elke – A Child of Golzow)
1994 Die Geschichte vom Onkel Willy aus Golzow (The Story of Uncle Willy from Golzow)
1994 Das Leben des Jürgen von Golzow (Jürgen of Golzow: His Life)
1993 Drehbuch: Die Zeiten (Screenplay: The Times)
1984 Diese Golzower - Umstandsbestimmung eines Ortes (These People of Golzow – Analysis of the Circumstances of a Place, TV)
1980 Lebensläufe - Die Geschichte der Kinder von Golzow in einzelnen Porträts (Children of Golzow: Individual Portraits)
1979 Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe (Spare No Charm and Spare No Effort)
1975 Ich sprach mit einem Mädchen (I Talked to a Girl)
1971 Die Prüfung (The Examination)
1970 Wenn man vierzehn ist (When You Are Fourteen)
1966 Elf Jahre alt (Eleven Years Old)
1962 Nach einem Jahr - Beobachtungen in einer 1. Klasse (One Year Later – Observations in a First Grade Class)
1961 Wenn ich erst zur Schule geh’ (Some Day, When I Go to School)

 

Other Films

 

1976 DDR-Magazin 1976/06 (GDR Magazine 1976/06: Youth and Solidarity)
1976 Somalia – Die große Anstrengung (Somalia: The Great Struggle)
1972 Wenn jeder tanzen würde, wie er wollte, na! (If Everybody Danced How They Wanted To!) 
1968 Jubiläum einer Stadt – 750 Jahre Rostock (Anniversary of a City: 750 Years of Rostock)
1967 Der tapfere Schulschwänzer (The Valiant Truant)

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