Rebels with a Cause: The Cinema of East Germany
November 11, 12, 18, and 25
- Berlin Schönhauser Corner
- The Gleiwitz Case (Der Fall Gleiwitz)
- Born in '45 (Jahrgang 45)
Shunters (Rangierer) - Carbide and Sorrel (Karbid und Sauerampfer)
- Naked among Wolves (Nackt unter Wölfen)
A Love Story (Eine Liebesgeschichte)
News from the West (Es geht um die Wurst)
***All film programs are held in the East Building Auditorium except where noted***
Berlin Schönhauser Corner
November 11 at 2:00 p.m.
A classic 1950s cult film, Berlin Schönhauser Corner follows a young and footloose East Berlin crowd (several years before the Wall's construction) searching for "freedom," trading Western goods, and generally avoiding authority. Director Klein and scriptwriter Kohlhaase — influenced by foreign filmmakers like Elia Kazan, Nicholas Ray, and the Italian neorealists — were greeted with suspicion by the East German authorities and reproached for showing "problematic images." (Gerhard Klein, 1957, 35 mm, German with subtitles, 82 mins.)
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The Gleiwitz Case (Der Fall Gleiwitz)
November 11 at 4:00 p.m.
"A near cubist rendering of the hours leading up to the Nazi invasion of Poland and Hitler's secret plan to fake a Polish incursion into German territory," reveals one reviewer about this 1961 film that managed to escape censorship yet disappeared immediately from theaters in the GDR. "Gleiwitz's icy experimentalism might even inspire nostalgia for a lost German avant-garde." — The Village Voice (Gerhard Klein, 1961, 35 mm, German with subtitles, 69 mins.)
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Born in '45 (Jahrgang 45)
Premiere of English-subtitled version with the director present
November 12 at 4:30 p.m.
Painter and filmmaker Jürgen Böttcher set his poetic Born in '45 in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district. Alfred, a motorcycle buff, longs for his lost freedom after marrying Lisa. He takes time off to clear his mind, wanders through Berlin, connects with strangers, yet ultimately returns to Lisa. Caught in a wave of politically motivated bans in the summer of 1966, this delicate neorealistic film was never exhibited in theaters. "Bleak settings not expressive of the socialist view of life" was one official description. (Juergen Boettcher, 1966/1990, 35 mm, German with subtitles, 94 mins.)
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Shunters (Rangierer)
Preceding the feature is Shunters (1984, 21 mins.), a cinema verité account of the lives of workers who hitch together railroad cars for a living. Director Jürgen Böttcher will be present for a discussion following the film.
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Carbide and Sorrel (Karbid und Sauerampfer)
November 18 at 12:30 p.m.
When a Dresden labor crew sends coworker Kalle hundreds of miles away to secure supplies, Kalle's precarious return progresses into a pathetic scramble through the Soviet-occupied zone. Full of crazy misadventures yet tempered by subtle social commentary, Carbide and Sorrel is a rare East German comedy that proved a huge success for the film's director and lead actor, Erwin Geschonneck. (Frank Beyer, 1963, 35 mm, German with subtitles, 80 mins.)
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Naked among Wolves (Nackt unter Wölfen)
November 25 at 3:30 p.m.
On location at the Buchenwald camp, director Frank Beyer and scriptwriter Bruno Apitz recreated Apitz's own novel, a factually based account (Apitz himself had been sent there) of inmates who risked their lives to hide a small Jewish boy. Armin Mueller-Stahl heads a cast that includes many nonactors who themselves had been Nazi prisoners. The first film made by DEFA to deal with life in the concentration camps, Naked among Wolves inspired both Roberto Benigni and Steven Spielberg. (Frank Beyer, 1963, 35 mm, German with subtitles, 124 mins.)
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A Love Story (Eine Liebesgeschichte)
Preceding the feature are A Love Story (Richard Groschopp, 1953, 35 mm, 7 mins.), a short tale of a writer who unsuccessfully tries to get his novel published.
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News from
the West (Es geht um die Wurst)
News from the West (Harald Röbbeling, 1955, 35 mm, 8 mins.), an East German take on bloated news reporting from the free world.
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