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DEFA
East German Cinema 1946-1992
Edited by Seán Allan and John Sandford
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Book Presentation:
Western scholars have not lost any of their fascination for East German culture. Cinema in particular continues to attract interest. This volume, the first one in English, traces the development of the main institution, the state-sponsored Deutsche Film Anstalt (DEFA), which was primarily responsible for film production in the former GDR from 1946, ceasing to exist in 1992. Although largely ignored outside the former GDR, the DEFA produced anumber of excellent films and scriptwriters that are examined here for the first time. This volume analyzes the representation of fascism and anti-fascism in the cinema of the 1940s and 1950s, the conflicts between the state and the film-makers of the 1960s, and the social-political criticism in the 1970s and early 1980s. Other key issues that arise from this comprehensive look at DEFA include its representation of women, the concept of "Heimat," the reception of the classical heritage, and the relation of DEFA cinema to other European film traditions.The comprehensive bibliography and a list of research sources on East German cinema make this volume an indispensable tool for students and scholars of the media.
About the authors:
Seán Allan is senior Lecturer in German Studies at the University of Warwick. John Sandford is Professor of German Studies at the University of Reading.
Press Reviews:
"... the lucid style of all contributions ... makes this volume an accessible read to students ... this volume has also the bonus of offering an excellent appendix on sources for future research ... this collection of essays illustrates precisely why the quality of DEFA film-making should not be confined to the archives of history." · Journal of European Areas Studies
"A useful appendix provides research sources. Written in clear prose, these essays should interest undergraduates and generalists as well as scholars and faculty." · Humanities
See the publisher website: Berghahn Books
> From the same authors:
Screening Art (2022)
Modernist Aesthetics and the Socialist Imaginary in East German Cinema
by Seán Allan
Re-Imagining DEFA (2016)
East German Cinema in its National and Transnational Contexts
Dir. Seán Allan and Sebastian Heiduschke
> On a related topic:
Hollywood Behind the Wall (2005)
The Cinema of East Germany
The Triumph of the Ordinary (2002)
Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema, 1949-1989
Cinema of Collaboration (2022)
DEFA Coproductions and International Exchange in Cold War Europe
Cinema in Service of the State (2017)
Perspectives on Film Culture in the GDR and Czechoslovakia, 1945-1960
Dir. Lars Karl and Pavel Skopal
New German Cinema and Its Global Contexts (2025)
A Transnational Art Cinema
Dir. Marco Abel and Jaimey Fisher
Charting Asian German Film History (2025)
Imagination, Collaboration, and Diasporic Representation
Dir. Qinna Qinna Shen, Zach Ramon Fitzpatrick and Qingyang Freya Zhou
Cinematically Transmitted Disease (2024)
Eugenics and Film in Weimar and Nazi Germany
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