Portrait

Which Films Are Part of the Foundation's Collection?

During its establishment, the rights to the DEFA film collection, which is part of the German cultural heritage, were transferred to the DEFA Foundation. The DEFA film collection includes the entire cinematic production of the DDR film studios from almost five decades. This includes about:

• 700 feature films and 450 short fiction films
• 950 animated films
• 2,000 documentary films and 2,500 serial films (Newsreels, etc.)
• 6,700 Germanlanguage synchronized foreign films
• 200 coproduced feature, documentary, and animation films that were made after 1990 and usually with another company or television station
• unpublished and remaining materials from DEFA productions
• photographs, posters, scripts and the literary originals, advertising materials, musical scores, and authorization documents

With around 13,500 films, the DEFA Foundation sees itself as an institution wanting to convey cultural knowledge. Its films are not only part of cultural memory, but also serve current engagements with socially relevant topics in order to discuss life and ethics questions.

The collection does not include films that were made as commissioned productions, for example what was produced for GDR television, in the DEFA studios. In most cases, the DEFA Foundation only holds the rights to the German soundtrack of dubbed films. The image rights are held in the respective production countries.

The films are listed with the relevant filmographic information in a  database on this website.

For more information, see  collection.

In addition to the DEFA productions, the rights of the DEFA Foundation include extensive archives of audiovisual eyewitness accounts. These include the Bill-Meyers-Archive, the Blickpunkt- Archive, the Wydocks-Archive, Thomas Grimm Contemporary Witness archive, and the Cintec Archive. The archive includes around 9,000 broadcasted cassettes of contemporary witness reports and documentation of recent German history, politics, science, culture, and everyday life. The foundation keeps these collections as part of cultural memory and makes them accessible to the public. For more information, see  Videoarchives.

In addition, interviews are produced with former DEFA filmmakers by the foundation. Along with interviews of well-known actors, Interviews are made with all types of personalities from the disciplines of directing, cinematography, editing, sound, costumes, make-up, production design and dramaturgy. The conversations become special bonus material for our DVD-editions. For more information, see  Artist Interviews.

How Does the Foundation Make the Films Available?

All DEFA-produced films were shot on analogue film. In the age of digital film copies, the DEFA Foundation faces the challenge of transferring its classic analogue films to the new digital format for cinema audiences. DEFA's films were produced for the big screen and will continue to be present in cinema-cultural venues in the future. Since 2012, the foundation has digitized in high quality more than 600 feature- and short-length films, documentaries and animation films to make available for distribution as Digital Cinema Packages (DCP). New films are digitized every year and then handed over to the DEFA film distributor  in the Deutsche Kinemathek . The films can be booked for cinema screenings. If possible, the film distributor can also offer analogue film materials for cinema screenings. An german overview of the films that have already been digitized is available here. 

The DEFA Foundation selects films from its inherited collection of film heritage for digitization based on curatorial, conservational, and commercial criteria. Our ambition is for a long-term strategic plan and corresponding annual plans.

We are able to do our digitization work from generous financial support from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM) as part of a digitization campaign , the German Federal Film Board (FFA), and the federal states.

Further information on the topic of digitization, including an introduction of the steps to a digitization project, can be found  here.

In addition to film screenings in cinemas, the foundation works with its partners to publicize the DEFA film heritage through other channels and media. DEFA films are regularly shown on television and released on DVD and Blu-ray. The availability of films on streaming platforms on the internet is becoming increasingly important. DEFA films are now available from numerous international and national providers. With the DEFA Filmwelt  (DEFA Film World) on YouTube, it has been possible to develop its own free service for the public. The DEFA TV (in German ) channel, launched in 2024, offers a monthly changing DEFA program around the clock. You can find out where you can watch DEFA films in detail  here.”

How Does the Foundation Promote Information About the DEFA Film Heritage?

With its publication series, the DEFA Foundation established an informative series that provides information about the history, treatment, and reception of East German cinematography. The series presents texts by directors and other filmmakers about politics and culture. The series is published by Bertz + Fischer Publishers  in Berlin. In addition, the DEFA Foundation has been publishing the journal "Leuchtkraft" once a year since 2018. The journal highlights the work of the foundation, what has been achieved and what is to come. It offers texts, interviews, analyses, and reports on DEFA research and events related to DEFA. An overview of the Foundation's previous publications can be found under  Publications.

The printed publications are complimented by the Foundation's website. The website offers an insight into the work of the foundation, answers questions about - current events (in German ), -  history and -  funding as well as the  film collection. In addition to a  database in which the films belonging to the Foundation's rights holdings are recorded, other databases, including a chronicle (in German ), an annual calendar (in German ), and a DEFA bibliography (in German ), are made available. Every month, a DEFA production is presented to readers as the film of the month (in German ). Short biographies of filmmakers (in German ) are constantly being added and expanded.

The foundation has Facebook , and Instagram  that provides information about events, television dates, and news related to the foundation’s work. The electronically sent newsletter documents the DEFA Foundation’s work and promotional activities. It ensures the necessary transparency and publicity of the foundation. On our YouTube channel , the foundation regularly publishes original cinema trailers and film excerpts from the DEFA collection.

A newsletter published six times a year documents the foundation's work and provides information on current projects. The german newsletter can be subscribed to here .

How Does the Foundation Support German Film Culture?

Since its inception, the DEFA Foundation has given around 9 million Euro for the promotion of cinematic art and culture.

To promote German cinematic art and culture, the DEFA Foundation offers the following annual awards. In which six prizes with a total value of 40,000 euros will be awarded :

• Lifetime Achievement Award in Film: 10,000 Euro
• Award for Outstanding Achievements in German Cinema: 10,000 Euro
• Funding Award for New Talents in Cinema: 5,000 Euro
• Three Programming Awards: 5,000 Euro each

A jury will be formed and will decide on the award recipients.

In recent years, awards have been given at an event in November. Furthermore, prizes amounting to 3,000 – 5,000 € are awarded at international and national festivals in Germany:

• Filmfest Dresden – International Animation and Short Film Festival
• Filmkunstfest MV in Schwerin
• DOK Leipzig – International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film

During the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), the DEFA Foundation has been awarding the Heiner Carow Prize since 2013. Since 2024, the award has been presented to a German up-and-coming film across all sections.

For more information, see  Funding.

How Is the Foundation Structured?

The DEFA Foundation’s governing bodies are the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors. The DEFA Foundation team consists of twelve permanent employees. You can find contact details  here.

The Board of Trustees consists of nine members who are appointed for 3-year terms. The members come from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM), the Federal Archives, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, and the federal states Berlin/Brandenburg and Saxony. In addition, Berlin, Brandenburg, and Saxony designate a representative in the area of art and culture.

The Board of Directors manages the foundation on its own responsibility in accordance with the  bylaws, and it is obligated to use the Foundation's assets and other funds conscientiously and sparingly.

For more information, see  Board of Trustees.

The foundation's assets consist of the inalienable ancillary copyright and usage rights to the DEFA film collection and the proceeds from the sale of a property in Berlin. The income from our copyrights and the interest income from the foundation's assets are used to fulfil the purpose of the foundation. In order to maintain the foundation's capital, the foundation builds up reserves in accordance with its statutes.

Who Works Together With the Foundation?

In order to fulfil its tasks, the DEFA Foundation works closely with several institutions:

• The Federal Archives (Das Bundesarchiv) preserves the film source materials and are committed to the long-term preservation of the DEFA film collection.
• DEFA Distribution GmbH is the commercial partner of DEFA's film collection in the areas of television, streaming and home entertainment.
• The company PROGRESS is the commercial partner of the DEFA film collection in the field of footage services and offers a viewing platform for researchers with the website progress.film .
• The DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (USA) is the only research centre on GDR filmmaking outside Germany and an important networking point for international researchers on East German film heritage.
• DVDs are published by Edition Filmjuwelen, Edition Filmmuseum and absolut MEDIEN.
• Another close partner is the second largest private German film foundation, the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation.

The DEFA Foundation is a member of the Association of German Foundations  and is a permanent guest in the German Cinematheque Association .