Hans served his king faithfully as a soldier. But now, cheated out of his pay, he is returning home. A witch heals his wounds and demands in return that he fetches the blue light from the dried-up well.

Dr. Blum, a Jewish manufacturer, is falsely accused of a murder. Even when the real killer’s identity becomes evident, the state prosecutor refuses to accept Blum’s innocence. 

This 13-DVD set is designed to accompany DEFA at the Crossroads of East German and International Film Culture (DeGruyter, 2014), edited by Marc Silberman (University of Wisconsin) and Henning Wrage (Gettysburg College).

This 12-DVD set is designed to accompany the book East German Cinema – DEFA and Film History, by Sebastian Heiduschke (Oregon State University), published by Palgrave Macmillan in October 2013.

This 11-DVD set is designed to accompany the book Last Features: East German Cinema’s Lost Generation (Camden House in 2014), by Reinhild Steingröver (Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester).

Alfred and Lisa decide to divorce after only a couple of months of marriage. Alfred takes a few days off to clear his head, riding through Berlin and meeting strangers; although he ultimately returns to Lisa, the ending remains open.

A few days after the GDR built the Berlin Wall, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer commented that this was “an infamous and brutal act against our brothers and sisters in the Zone.” Director Walter Heynowski digs into this ubiquitous West German expression, using footage from West German news