A woman born in 1949, the year the GDR was founded, talks about her life based on 35 images in her family album that each represent one year. This short was to premiere on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of East Germany.
Footage of a man doing push-ups is overlaid by images of Vietnamese faces, and a ticking metronome counts down from 100 while the words "dog - pig - monkey" are yelled repeatedly. The film illustrates the idea that American soldiers who used the term "Vietnamese" instead of referring to their opp
In this animated short, a film poster advertises 100 years of cinema in 1995. When cracks open in the wall, typical characteristics of Charlie Chaplin spring out and combine themselves to make a portrait of the famous film artist.
Director Walter Heynowski’s short documentary, filmed in Totalvision (CinemaScope), is a call for East Germans to donate blood for the (North) Vietnamese people. The film’s title is a reference to how much blood a person was allowed to donate.
The history of the Leipzig Fair goes back to the Middle Ages, and the first post-war fair, also called the "Peace Fair," took place in 1946. The still Soviet-occupied zone tried to demonstrate the return of economic growth one year after the war.
Seventeen-year-old gymnast Susanne hopes to join the national team, but she is struggling at practice because she can't seem to land her new routine for the uneven bars. At the same time, her grades begin to slip at school and she has trouble in her personal relationships.
Maria (Corinna Harfouch), a rising theater star in Nazi Germany, is in love with Mark (André Hennicke), a Jewish actor.
This film in the "Kinder von Golzow" documentary series provides a retrospective look at growing up in the GDR through a biographical portrait of Bernd and his family. Bernd moves from his small hometown to take a position at an industrial petrochemical plant.
Eberhard Kunstmann, a shipbuilder at the Neptune Wharf in Rostock, counsels collegues who are struggling with alchohol addiction.
In 1833, the medical student and poet Georg Büchner leaves his lover Louise behind in Strasbourg and returns to his Hessian homeland, a hotbed of violent political struggles.
Siblings Toni and Rita have arrived safely at their grandmother's house in Bamsdorf in spite of a number of mishaps during their journey. After a few uneventful days, Toni's friend Klaus discovers a cave and the boys sneak out early one morning to go exploring.
Farmer Juan Quin Quin survives in pre-revolutionary Cuba by his wits – as an altar boy, circus performer, bullfighter, coffee planter and revolutionary. The poor but shrewd farmer even plays the part of Jesus Christ with a traveling theater company.
Two 17-year-olds, Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, are pulled out of school and into Hitler's army. Gilbert becomes a fanatical soldier; but at the front, Werner begins to understand the senselessness of war. When Gilbert is hanged by the SS, Werner turns his gun on his own army.
In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Four years later—the Islamic calendar's year 1362—, director Volker Koepp visited Kabul and neighboring provinces.
This documentary, a co-production with the Egyptian government, acquaints the viewer with an overview of Egypt's five-millenia-long history.
Starting in 1975, Lutz Dammbeck worked as a freelance artist for the state-owned East German DEFA Studios. By 1986, when he left the GDR for West Germany, he had directed a total of six shorts for DEFA.
Franz Xaver Stannebein, a young boy at the turn of the 20th century, wants to do nothing more than fly. He carries this obsessive dream into his adulthood as a merchant in Spain.
Two boys from West Berlin, Klaus and Max, live in poverty. They dream of a career in boxing and save every penny in order to buy boxing gloves for training. Nevertheless, they cannot seem to save enough and so they let themselves be hired by the bartender Klott for a twisted scheme.
Funny things happen at night at the puppet theater – especially today, since there were jelly donuts for Grandma’s birthday!
Captain Jim Leslie, a US Air Force pilot, is stationed at a military base near the Russian border in Alaska. His interest in Brenda, the commander's daughter, causes him to run afoul of her fiancé, Senator Gordon Gray.
An homage to Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), the famous painter and printmaker of the German Renaissance, whose release marked the artist’s 500th birthday in 1971.
Alfons has to deal with a lot of teasing - and not just because of his funny last name. Even his own father, a big and strong head chef, complains about his son's lack of muscles and tries to beef the boy up.
Ali, a poor farmer's son, goes out into the world and meets a sorcerer, who takes him on as an apprentice.
Alice is a drama teacher who goes on a cultural mission to a small town where the most bizarre occurrences are commonplace.
Despite his lack of enthusiasm, film student Ralf is assigned to make a documentary about a team of six women workers at a light bulb factory in Berlin. At first, the team seems to work and get along together without a hitch.
Wolfgang Kohlhaase portrays his mentor, work partner and friend in this short documentary about filmmaker Gerhard Klein: “He took things seriously, was incorruptible, imaginative, and obsessed with his work.”
The first feature-length film of filmmaker, author, actress and feminist activist Helke Sander. This film is paired with Iris Gusner's All My Girls in the MADE in West|East Germany film series.
This documentary, whose title is an adaption of the first line of the French national anthem, presents the Algerian war for independance from France in three stylistically distinct chapters.
International delegations from various youth organizations come to Berlin to demonstrate their international solidarity at the first Free German Youth "Deutschlandtreffen" in 1950.
Havana 1914 – the turmoil surrounding WWI engulfs the daughter of a recently-deceased, wealthy slave trader. She falls in love with her cousin, an idealistic journalist, but is tied to her unfaithful husband and obsolete bourgeois values.
The nationally-owned Buna Chemical Plant provides an art center with 50 different art clubs for its 22,000 employees to participate in during their free time.
On July 18, 1984, US army veteran James Huberty killed 21 people and injured 19 others in a McDonald's restaurant in San Diego, the largest mass shooting in North America at that time. This documentary intercuts live television reports about the shooting with footage from the Vietnam War, suggest
This documentary about the Buchenwald concentration camp features interviews with survivors who describe their memories and experiences.
Riots in front of and inside stadiums, massive clashes with opposing fan groups and fights with the police are common sights at East German soccer games. On the trains to the games or on the streets, the public is often frightened by soccer hooligans and their rivalries.
In this filmed conversation, illustrated by clips from the film, Cuban scholars and public intellectuals Maria Caridad Cumaná González and Rafael Hernández discuss Frank Vogel’s 1962 co-production And Your Love T
This film follows the creation of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo. Brecht finished his first draft of the play in three weeks in November 1938, while in exile in Denmark.
On August 13th, 1961—the night the Berlin Wall goes up—three people must make a decision that will change their lives forever…
This provocative portrait of the Bulgarian-Jewish scriptwriter and novelist, Angel Wagenstein (1922-2023), offers a fresh perspective on the past century. It takes viewers down unfamiliar historical and ideological paths and revisits the revolutions of 1989 and after with a critical eye.
The word "Angkar" means "organization" in the Khmer language and was a name used by the Communist Party of Cambodia during the Pol Pot Regime. The Angkar governed according to its own unwritten and often brutal rules.
Animation Before Unification: 16 Shorts from East Germany - DEFA Animation Nr. 1 / Ohne Worte (1975)
By the time the DEFA Studio for Animation Film closed in 1992, it had produced more than 800 shorts in a wide variety of styles and techniques.
Images of the city of Rostock and its 750th anniversary celebration are set to a musical suite by Günter Kochen.
Car mechanic Anton Grubske cunningly avoids being captured and taken to a POW camp in 1945. Upon returning to his village, he marries Liesel, the daughter of his former apprenticeship master, and takes over the workshop.
Based on original documents from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), this film tells the story of the young warrior Ulzana, who is out to avenge the extermination of his tribe.
A portrait of the Latin American folkloric music ensemble Aparcoa, which was formed in Chile in 1965. The group went into exile and settled in Rostock, East Germany, in 1974.
A report on the meeting of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid that took place in East Berlin from March 24 – 29, 1974. Conference discussions make apparent that many states, especially socialist countries, show their solidarity and support in eliminating racism and apartheid.
Inge (Christine Schorn) is an attractive and independent divorcée with a teenage son. She works as a psychologist and has a relationship with a married man. But after a routine check-up, Inge receives an unexpected call from her doctor.
Daniel, a young and enthusiastic architect, has high hopes as he pulls a team together to design a vibrant community space for a new housing development.
In early 1934, the Soviet exploration steamship “Chelyuskin” is ice-bound in Arctic waters, where the crew has finally managed to escape onto the ice. In a Prague neighborhood, five children hear the news on their self-made radio and decide to rescue the crew.
This last filmic portrait of Arnold Zweig (1887-1968) retells important events in the author’s life: his childhood; WWI; his emigration to Czechoslovakia, France, and later Palestine during WWII; his return to Germany in 1948 and his involvement in the communist system.
A documentary about the GDR's oldest city, Arnstadt, which was founded in 704. The film describes the historical significance of Arnstadt, its museums–including the Bach Museum–and the noble families who once governed there.
Throughout his creative life, artist and filmmaker Jürgen Böttcher explored the theme of art and artists. This DVD includes six filmic milestones on this topic.
This 2-DVD set with a collection of five early short films made by German director and media artist Lutz Dammbeck introduces the formative period of an artist who remains one of Germany’s boldest and most innovative creators.
A celebration of the important graphic artist John Heartfield (1891-1968) that covers the main phases of his life and is interspersed with images of the artist’s key works.
Presented here are nine short films that feature: film director Slatan Dudow; actor Martin Brandt; authors Erich Fried, Erich Weinert, and Arnold Zweig; photographer Walter Ballhause; cartoonist Leo Haas; and journalist Egon Erwin Kisch.
This documentary portrait of the director Artur Pohl is part of a series of documentaries on DEFA filmmakers by director Ullrich Kasten.
NOTE: This film is currently only available as part of our non-circulating research collection.
In 1914, Germany is arming itself for war. Karl Liebknecht, left-wing revolutionary Social Democrat, workers’ leader and a virulent antimilitarist, is one among 110 SPD members of Parliament who vote against approving war loans.
This documentary juxtaposes events in the immediate postwar East and West Germanies to draw a picture of the developing Cold War politics.
In 1802, young Alexander von Humboldt led a scientific expedition to Chimborazo in Ecuador, which was thought to be the highest mountain in the world.
This documentary about youth in Schulzendorf, a small town in the northeast of the GDR, features commentary from town residents. The film emphasizes the ways in which children, teenagers and young adults are integrated into the life of this rural community.