News & Events

Courtesy of DEFA Film Library

The East German Cinema of the DEFA Studios (1946-1992) was hit hard by the transition from a planned economy to capitalism and to the preferences of Western audiences, and many of its last films never had the reception they deserved. Today German cultural politicians are fighting to preserve memories of life in the German Democratic Republic, and films have become a major source of popular knowledge about the past. The Indiana University DEFA Project charts a critical return to these volatile years and the complex and largely unknown cinematic oeuvre that they left behind.

From January 17-April 18, 2010 the film series “WENDE FLICKS—Last Films from East Germany,” curated by the University of Massachusetts DEFA Film Library, will play at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater (until March 28) and on campus (April). Germanic Studies faculty and students will introduce the films each Sunday evening, and faculty from a number of university departments will join us for short roundtables and discussions with the audience after each screening. Recently furnished with English subtitles, the WENDE FLICKS will be free and open to the public.

Sponsored in part by the IU Libraries.

A flyer and screening schedule for the series are available.

For more information:

http://www.indiana.edu/~germanic/

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