Quo vadis DEFA Research?
International DEFA Conference at the University of Rostock
Between 29 and 31 May 2024, the DEFA-Stiftung and the University of Rostock convened the international conference “Quo vadis DEFA Research? New Perspectives in the Treatment of East German Film Heritage” (“Quo vadis DEFA-Forschung? Neue Perspektiven im Umgang mit dem Filmerbe der DDR”). The conference brought together researchers from across the disciplines to discuss the future of DEFA research East German cinema.
Over three days in May, more than one hundred researchers and filmmakers came together at the University of Rostock to discuss the interdisciplinary futures of DEFA film heritage and DEFA research. Which topics are still un- and underdiscussed, and where are the critical gaps? Do current and future societal challenges open up new understandings of DEFA film heritage?
The conference was opened with a welcoming address by the Rector Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Prommer and with insights into the work of the DEFA-Stiftung by board member Stefanie Eckert, who introduced the archive work of the institutions Bundesarchiv, Deutsche Kinemathek, Filmmuseum Potsdam and the DEFA Film Library.
An overview (in German) of the DEFA archives and collections can be found here .
Rector of the University of Rostock Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Prommer at the opening of the conference. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
DEFA-Stiftung managing director Stefanie Eckert during her opening remarks. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Under the title “Immer bleibt etwas übrig; ein Rest, der nicht aufgeht”, cinematographer Peter Badel then called upon researchers to seek perspectives that have are not captured in archival files, for instance through conversations with filmmakers or even through reference to props. Badel also stressed how the film industry in East Germany (GDR) should not be limited to DEFA, but rather should consider commissioned productions, industrial and educational films, as well as amateur films.
DEFA Foundation managing director Stefanie Eckert in conversation with cinematographer Peter Badel. Source: Lorena Elser | Nina Ewert © IMF | University of Rostock
Conference guests. Source: Lorena Elser | Nina Ewert © IMF | University of Rostock
The opening evening featured a screening of the DEFA film BANKETT FÜR ACHILLES (1975) by Roland Gräf, which was digitized as part of the Film Heritage funding programme. This Gegenwartsfilm (“film about contemporary life”) is remarkably open about the effects of the chemical industry on the environment. In a film discussion with Linda Söffker, actor Ute Lubosch talked about this period in the GDR and its ongoing relevance today.
Ute Lubosch in BANKETT FÜR ACHILLES (Dir.: Roland Gräf, 1975) Photography: Klaus Goldmann
Linda Söffker (DEFA Foundation) in conversation with actress Ute Lubosch. Source: DEFA-Stiftung, Photography: Philip Zengel
Over the three days, conference participants discussed forty presentations organised across thirteen themed panels. The questions raised and discussions that ensued will undoubtedly set the tone and direction for research in East German film heritage over in the coming years.
The conference program is available hier (11.68 MB).
Wednesday - May 29, 2024
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- Kerstin Risse & Alexandra Luther: Bundesarchiv, Berlin
- Diana Kluge: Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin
- Ralf Forster & Barbara Ziereis: Filmmuseum Potsdam
- Victoria I. Rizo Lenshyn: DEFA Film Library , University of
Massachusetts, Amherst
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- Mariana Ivanova: DEFA Film Library, University of Massachusetts: Heritage and (East German) Cinema: A Pertinent Relationship
- Seán Allan: University of St Andrews / Universität Bonn: DEFA, Generational Change and the Socialist Anthropocene: BANKETT FÜR ACHILLES (1975, Roland Gräf) and BIOLOGIE (1990, Jörg Foth)
- Sabine Hake: University of Texas: Learning from the Historians: Wismut across the Disciplines
Thursday - May 30, 2024
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- Matthias Steinle: Université Sorbonne Nouvelle: „Frau-Augenzeuge“ und weibliche Perspektiven im (DEFA-) Dokumentarfilm
- Evelyn Hampicke: Berlin: Vom „Weggehen“ zwischen Mauern. Frauenfiguren im DEFA-Spielfilm 1965/66
- Yulia Yurtaeva-Martens: Filmuniversität Babelsberg: DEFA und Fernsehen: Geschlechterperspektiven
- Faye Stewart: University of North Carolina: Queering Socialist Cinema
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- Christian Pischel: Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ Leipzig: Enthusiasmus und Eigensinn – Arbeit und Liebe. Das politische Denken des DEFA-Films zwischen 1946-1966
- Jared Ziegler: University of New South Wales: Unpacking the „Halbstarken“ Film: An analysis of the news media and film production in 1950s East and West German Cinema
- Daniel Jonah Wolpert: University of Cambridge: Countered Images: Did DEFA create a new Germany?
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- Michael Wedel: Filmuniversität Babelsberg: Das mediale Umfeld der DEFA. Filmpublizistik und Filmberichterstattung in Funk und Fernsehen der DDR
- Martin Brady: King’s College London & Helen Hughes, University of Surrey: „Operation Teutonic Sword“ and Socialist Archiveology
- Andreas Kötzing: Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismus-forschung, Dresden: Das Ministerium für Staatssicherheit und der Film – ein Desiderat?
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- Ulrike Schneider: Universität Potsdam: Perspektiven auf ein „Jüdisches Filmerbe“ bei der DEFA: Dokumentarfilme und deren Rezeption nach 1990
- Lisa Schoß: Berlin: An der Schnittstelle von Jüdischen Studien und DEFA-Forschung: Eine (ost-)deutsch-jüdische Filmgeschichte?
- Evan Torner: University of Cincinnati: Whiteness and Blackness in DEFA Films
- Grit Lemke: Berlin: Serbska filmowa skupina: Die „DEFA-Produktionsgruppe sorbischer Film“ aus postkolonialer Perspektive
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- Stephan Ehrig: University of Glasgow: DEFA and Housing. Perspectives on Gender, Class, and Age
- Tom Maulucci: University of Connecticut: The DEFA „Foreign Ministry Films“: Presenting Rostock and the Baltic
- Ute Wölfel: University of Reading: The Third Reich „Theatre“: DEFA Antifascism in International Context (canceled)
- Daria Gordeeva: LMU München: Die DDR im Film Moderation / Chair: Daniel Jonah Wolpert, University of Cambridge
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- Carolin Pommert: Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin: Der medizinische Lehrfilm zwischen DEFA und Charité-Filmstudio
- Kerrin von Engelhardt: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Kein Kino, aber DEFA - Die Lehrfilm-Produktion in den DEFA-Studios
- Christian Rüdiger: Berlin: Körperwelten-Poetologische Perspektiven auf Körper-, Gender- und Geschlechtsinszenierungen im DEFA-Schulfilm
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- Esther Kontarsky: Universität der Künste, Berlin: Die Filmmusik zum DEFA-Film IKARUS von Heiner Carow (1975)
- Wolfgang Thiel: Potsdam: Filmmusik aus Ost- und West-Deutschland zwischen 1946 und 1989 im Vergleich
- Sylvie Kitanova Hume: University of Melbourne: „Cabaret“ between Politics and Entertainment: East German Film Control in the 1970s
Friday - May 31, 2024
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- Joseph Garncarz: Universität zu Köln: Die Wahl der Zuschauer: Die staatliche Organisation des Kinos und die Filmpräferenzen der Kinobesucher in der DDR, 1949-1990
- Anna Luise Kiss: Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch, Berlin: Das Filmerbe der DDR als Forschungsfeld für Bürger*innen?
- Markus Plaul & Patrick Rössler: Universität Erfurt: Kinoerfahrungen konservieren. Citizen Science als Forschungsstrategie: das Projekt „Kino in der DDR“
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- Dieter Wiedemann: Potsdam: Von der Filmausbildung für Deutschland zur Filmausbildung für die DEFA und das DFF–Anmerkungen zur Wechselwirkung von Filmausbildung und Film- und Fernsehproduktion in der DDR (canceled)
- Ilka Brombach: Filmuniversität Babelsberg / Filmmuseum Potsdam: Die Filme der HFF „Konrad Wolf“ 1954-1990. Strategien des Umgangs mit dem Hochschulfilmerbe nach 1990, Perspektiven des Forschungsprojekts zur Hochschul-(film)-Geschichte
- Perrine Val: Université Sorbonne Nouvelle: Außereuropäische Studenten der Filmhochschule Babelsberg und der DEFA
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- Carla Steinbrecher: University of St Andrews: Internationales Politisches Lied im DEFA-Dokumentarfilm: Fallbeispiel Chile
- Claudia Sandberg: University of Melbourne und Carlos Uxo, Monash University: DEFA, Cuba and the Figure of the Spy: Political Fantasy meets Visual Pleasure
- Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon: University of Pennsylvania: Blackness in the Socialist Imaginary: Black Characters in East German and Soviet Film
- Lauren Cuthbert: University of Aberdeen: Looking outward, looking in: Memorialisation of German and Vietnamese histories through „tote Gegenstände“ in Heynowski and Scheumann’s MEIERS NACHLASS (1975) and EINTRITT KOSTENLOS (1976) (canceled)
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- Danny Pinto: University of Chicago: Beyond Abbildtheorie, Beyond the Spielfilm: Expanding Methodologies, Interlocutors, and Archives of the Moving Image in the GDR
- Evelyn Preuss: University of Oklahoma: From East Germany with Worry, or: Lessons in Democracy—Love, DEFA
- Thomas Stegmaier: Universität Passau: Das Stacheltier: Der satirische Kurzfilm zwischen Unterhaltung und Agitation
- Matt Parry: University of Cambridge: Vorwärts immer, rückwärts nimmer (?): Mobility, History, and The Train as Motif in Late East German Experimental Cinema
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- Stefanie Eckert: DEFA-Stiftung, Berlin
- Sebastian Heiduschke: Oregon State University
- Mariana Ivanova: DEFA Film Library, University of Massachusetts
- Anna Luise Kiss: Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch, Berlin
In addition to the presentations from different research perspectives, the conference was used as a forum for exchange. Discussions between the researchers, academics, filmmakers and students were not limited to the panels themselves, but also took place during the coffee breaks, over lunch and on a collective boat trip to Warnemünde.
Sebastian Heiduschke (Oregon State University) presented his initiative for a transnational DEFA research network "DEFA Global Scholars Network (DGSN)". Through a collaborative website, research into DEFA film heritage will be faster, easier and more efficient in the future. The maintenance of the website will be cooperative and cross-institutional. Further details will be announced in the months ahead and the next DEFA conference in two years will be a forum to discuss experiences to date.
Sebastian Heiduschke (Oregon State University) during the panel discussion. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Sebastian Heiduschke presents the research website "The DEFA Global Scholars Network". Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
The concluding panel discussion was a space for critical discussions emerging the three-day conference. For DEFA-Stiftung managing director Stefanie Eckert, the diversity of the perspectives presented was significant, especially in relation to society today:
- How do we deal with a film heritage that represents stereotypes?
- How do East German films beyond DEFA offer perspectives and insights into the GDR and its citizens?
- What significance do DEFA films have for the overall German understanding of film history?
- What is the ongoing relationship between East German film heritage and contemporary German film?
Andy Räder (University of Rostock), Sebastian Heiduschke (Oregon State University), Stefanie Eckert (DEFA Foundation), Anna Luise Kiss (Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts), Mariana Ivanova (DEFA Film Library and the University of Massachusetts) and Elizabeth Ward (Leipzig University) at the closing discussion. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Dr. Stella Donata Haag (Film University Babelsberg), Diana Kluge (Deutsche Kinemathek), Ilka Brombach (Film University Babelsberg and the Filmmuseum Potsdam), Perrine Val (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Carla Steinbrecher (University of St Andrews). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Answers will be found in future research. Andy Räder (University of Rostock) pointed to the impact of the precarious working conditions for researchers at German universities for the future of research into East German film heritage. Anna Luise Kiss (Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts) also reported on sobering attempts to gain an academic foothold in the field of DEFA research.
An exhibition on “60 Years NACKT UNTER WÖLFEN – Between Myth, International Film History and Regional Culture of Remembrance” ("60 Jahre Nackt unter Wölfen – Zwischen Mythos, internationaler Filmgeschichte und regionaler Erinnerungskultur“) accompanied the conference. Students from a seminar course led by Michael Grisko at the University of Erfurt developed and designed display boards.
Elizabeth Ward (Leipzig University) at the panel discussion. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Opening of the conference: Andy Räder (University of Rostock). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
DEFA Foundation managing director Stefanie Eckert with Anna Luise Kiss (Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Conference hall at the University of Rostock. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Exhibition on "60 Years NACKT UNTER WÖLFEN – Between Myth, International Film History and Regional Culture of Remembrance" by Michael Grisko and students from the University of Erfurt. Source: Lorena Elser | Nina Ewert © IMF | University of Rostock
At the registration for the conference. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Gunnar Dedio and Robert Isensee (PROGRESS). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Mariana Ivanova (DEFA Film Library and the University of Massachusetts) at the panel discussion. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Mariana Ivanova (DEFA Film Library and the University of Massachusetts) and Victoria I. Rizo Lenshyn (University of Massachusetts Amherst). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Daniel Jonah Wolpert (University of Cambridge) during his lecture. Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Danny Pinto (University of Chicago). Quelle: ITMZ | Universität Rostock
Stephan Ehrig (University of Glasgow). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Faye Stewart (University of North Carolina), Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon (University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. Christian Rüdiger (Freie Universität Berlin). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Lisa Schoß (author of the book "Von verschiedenen Standpunkten. Die Darstellung jüdischer Erfahrung im Film der DDR" published within the DEFA publication series). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Conference guests. Source: Lorena Elser | Nina Ewert © IMF | University of Rostock
Evan Torner (University of Cincinnati). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock
Michael Wedel (Film University Babelsberg) and Andreas Kötzing (Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Studies) in the shared panel. Source: Lorena Elser | Nina Ewert © IMF | University of Rostock
Sean Allan (University of St Andrews and the University of Bonn) next to Helen Hughes (University of Surrey). Source: ITMZ | University of Rostock