East German cinema : DEFA and film history /

East Germany's film monopoly, Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), produced a breadth and depth of films ranging beyond simple propaganda to westerns, science fiction films, musicals, melodramas, spy thrillers, women's films, fairy tales and children's films. This book covers the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Heiduschke, Sebastian, 1974-
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Edition:First edition.
Subjects:
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Part I. East German cinema
  • East German cinema as state institution
  • Reciprocities and tensions : DEFA and the East German entertainment industry
  • A cultural legacy : DEFA's afterlife
  • Part II. Freezes and thaws : canonizing the DEFA
  • The rubble film, Wolfgang Staudte, and postwar German cinema : Die Mörder sind unter uns (The murderers are among us, Wolfgang Staudte, 1946)
  • Fairy tales and children's films as eternal blockbusters : Die Geschichte vom Kleinen Muck (The story of little Mook, Wolfgang Staudte, 1953)
  • The Gegenwartsfilm, West Berlin as hostile other, and East Germany as homeland : the rebel film Berlin--Ecke Schönhauser (Berlin Schönhauser Corner, Gerhard Klein, 1957)
  • The birth of DEFA genre cinema, East German sci-fi films, new technologies, and coproduction with Eastern Europe : Der schweigende Stern (Silent star, Kurt Maetzig, 1960)
  • Film censorship, the East German nouvelle vague, and the "Rabbit films" : Das Kaninchen bin ich (The rabbit is me, Kurt Maetzig, 1965)
  • Renegade films, DEFA musicals, and the genre cinema : Hei€er Sommer (Hot summer, Joachim Hasler, 1968)
  • More genre cinema, the "Red western," and stardom in East Germany : Apachen (Apaches, Gottfried Kolditz, 1973)
  • Gender, class, and sexuality : ending taboos in Die Legende von Paul and Paula (The legend of Paul and Paula, Heiner Carwo, 1973)
  • DEFA and the Holocause, the antifascist legacy, and international acclaim : Jakob der Lügner (Jacob the liar, Frank Beyer, 1974)
  • The women's film, Konrad Wolf, and DEFA after the "Biermann Affair" : Solo Sunny (Konrad Wolf, 1980)
  • Passed by history : dystopia, parable, and bookend : Die architekten (The architects, Peter Kahane, 1990)
  • The Wendeflicks, Jörg Foth, and DEFA after censorship : Letztes aus der Da-Da-eR (Latest from the Da-Da-eR, Jörg Foth, 1990)
  • Appendix
  • Notes-- Bibliography
  • Filmography
  • Index.