The Times, the World, and Me

The Book

Rainer Simon, born in 1941 in Hainichen, was one of the unconventional directors at DEFA. After his studies at the film school "Konrad Wolf", which he began in 1961, he made 16 documentary and feature films of varying lengths in various genres from 1964 until the dissolution of DEFA, including children's and fairy tale films, historical and contemporary films, satires and comedies. After 1992, Simon's cinematic work was influenced by his engagement with the South American continent. In addition, he produced numerous literary works.

Rainer Simon's films always opened up new idealistic and aesthetic perspectives with their special view of people who follow their tortuous paths through history and the present. The fact that he rubbed against prevailing ideologies in the process, but never allowed himself to be driven into a corner, but rather celebrated the freedom of thought, often made his art bold, fresh and exciting. The intellectual rank of his life's work is a rarity in German cinema.

The articles focus on his oeuvre produced up to 1992: individual analyses include the films Men Without Beard (MÄNNER OHNE BART,1971), Six Go Around The World (SECHSE KOMMEN DURCH DUCH DIE WELT, 1971/72), TILL EULENSPIEGEL (1974/75), JADUP UND BOEL (1980/88), The Airship (DAS LUFTSCHIFF, 1982/83), The Woman And The Stranger (DIE FRAU UND DER FREMDE, 1984) or Climbing The Chimborazo (DIE BESTEIGUNG DES CHIMBORAZO, 1988/89). A text on the Ecuadorian films from 1994 onwards and Rainer Simon's own reflections on his self-image as a film director round off the volume.

Samples:

•  Table of Contens (in german) (57 KB)
•  Foreword by Ralf Schenk, Managing Director of DEFA Foundation, March 2016 (in german) (40 KB)

The Authors

With articles from Anne Barnert, Barbara Felsmann, Wolfgang Fuhrmann, Michael Grisko, Günter Helmes, Frédéric Jaeger, Detlef Kannapin, Claus Löser, Erika Richter, Ralf Schenk, Rainer Simon and Matthias Struch.