|
The East German film production
company DEFA first rejected the
screenplay for the film Jacob the
Liar ( Jakob der Lügner, 1975).
Only after Jurek Becker published
it as a novel, which met with
great success, did DEFA
reconsider production of the
film. It was later nominated
for an Oscar.
 
Netflix
has over 5,500
foreign DVDs
available for rental.
|
German Film (10)
BROWSE GERMAN FILMS: Contemporary
German films 1 -
2 - 3 - 4
- 5 - 6
- 7 | New
releases | East German films
German film classics & collections
1 - 2
| German directors &actors
| Documentaries | German
movie soundtracks
Most East German films are largely unseen in North America and are not
yet widely available outside of Germany. As they become released and
available internationally, we will list them here.
| The
Architects / Die Architekten |
 |
Drama (1990)
Director: Peter Kahane
Starring: Kurt Naumann, Rita Feldmeier
|
SYNOPSIS: This is
a social satire made in the last days of East Germany's existence.
It pokes fun at the elephantine and humorless way the ever-present
bureaucracy thwarted even the tiniest manifestations of originality.
In the story, an architect tries to get approval for a contract
which will put him in charge of a major city project. If he can
get it, his career will be assured. Before he can get very far,
however, political events make a hash out of his whole situation.
Other architects also try to get their projects through the bureaucracy
and devise countless ways to try and slip something meaningful
or original past the dutiful and hard-working guardians of the
status-quo.
Review by Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
DESCRIPTION: Daniel Brenner, an idealistic young architect
in East Berlin, is deeply frustrated by life under the Communists.
After receiving a plum assignment - designing a small city on
the fringe of Berlin - he comes up with an innovative, fresh,
almost cheerful plan. But his optimistic design comes at a price,
both personal and professional. Filmed as East Germany crumbled,
this somber, finely drawn portrait of life in East Berlin is one
of the first fiction films to deal both with both East Germany
and the reunification periods.
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON 
| Find film at alibris |
Coming Out |
 |
Drama (1989)
Director: Heiner Carow
Starring: Matthias Freihof, Dirk Kummer
|
SYNOPSIS: It seems
like a good thing when Philip (Mathias Freihof), a high-school
teacher, bumps into Tanja (Dagmar Manzel), starts a relationship
with her, and eventually moves in with her. But Philip has a secret
he hasn't even told himself. He attended a transvestite ball and
met a man named Matthias (Dirk Kummer) there, with whom he also
has been having an affair. He can't bring himself to tell either
one about the other one.
Review by Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
Red Cartoons: Animated Films from East Germany |
|
Animation (1988)
Director: multiple
|
DESCRIPTION: By the time it closed in 1992, the East German DEFA Studio for Animation Film had produced more than 800 short animation films in a wide variety of styles and techniques. Established in 1955, the studio initially produced shorts exclusively for children. During the 1970s and '80s, however, films also targeting older audiences became more common. Red Cartoons contains 16 short animations from 8 directors that contain elements of social and political satire that would never have been allowed in live-action films. Includes: Drum Beat, Star and Flower, Loneliness, Variants, The Rescue, Seven Rights of a Viewer, Mr. Daff Is Shooting a Film, Hello, Consequence, The Solution, Belly and Soul, The Breakdown, The Full Circle, The Monument, Sunday and Island Joke.
Search for DVD at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
Jacob the Liar
/ Jakob der Lügner |
|
Comedy / Drama (1975)
First Oscar-nominated East German film. Novel by Jurek
Becker.
Director: Frank Beyer
Starring: Vlastimil Brodský, Erwin Geschonneck
|
REVIEW: The inspiration
for the 1999 Robin Williams comedy Jakob the Liar didn't come
from Roberto Begnini's acclaimed tragifarce Life is Beautiful;
it's a remake of a 1976 German film. Curiously enough, the original
wasn't so much a comedy as a wistful, sad drama of the human spirit
buoyed by memories, fantasies, and a lie that takes on a life
of its own. Set in the waning days of the Warsaw ghetto when the
Polish Jews have all but given up hope as the population dwindles
and rumors fly, sad sack Jakob (Vlastimil Brodsky) overhears news
of a Russian advance on a nearby German town while detained at
the police station. Because no one will believe he survived a
visit to the Nazi police, he makes up a story of a hidden radio.
News of Jakob's secret spreads like wildfire through the town,
lifting spirits and starting debates, and he's forced to start
making up news to keep the neighbors satisfied. In the film's
most touching scene, Jakob creates a mock broadcast for the orphaned
girl he looks after. She peeks around the corner to see his handiwork,
then chooses to believe the fantasy instead and sits back down
to enjoy his stories. Frank Beyer's picture, which was nominated
for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1977, becomes a quiet, gently
ironic tale about the need to believe, against all evidence.
Review by Sean Axmaker
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
In the Dust of Stars
/ Im Staub der Sterne |
 |
Science Fiction (1976)
Director: Gottfried Kolditz
Starring: Zephi Alsec, Violeta Andrei, Milan Beli
|
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
The Legend of Paul
und Paula |
 |
Drama / Romance (1973)
Director: Heiner Carow
Starring: Angelica Domröse, Winfried Glatzeder
|
Buy DVD
or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris
|
Eolomea |
 |
Science Fiction (1972)
Director: Herrmann Zschoche
Starring: Cox Habbema, Ivan Andonov
|
SYNOPSIS: This East
German space-travel film depicts the difficulties experienced
by intrepid explorers: resistance to new exploration by bureaucrats,
confusing instructions from scientists, the lure of the familiar
and, of course, the difficulties of the exploration itself. In
this film, the planet which might be explored, if the bureaucrats
will look the other way for a moment, is called Eolomea.
Synopsis by Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
Sun Seekers / Sonnensucher |
|
Drama (1972)
Director: Konrad Wolf
Starring: Ulrike Germer, Günther Simon
|
REVIEW: The title
of this startlingly frank story about the turbulent early years
of East German communism refers not to the acquiring of tans but
rather uranium miners looking for (and being exposed to) high
levels of radiation within underground tunnels. Banned by the
Soviet Union, the 1972 Sun Seekers was directed by German director
Konrad Wolf with a careful eye toward 1950 atmosphere, detail,
and the extraordinary social complexity of a newly designated
nation carved from a vanquished Nazi regime, then made over as
a socialist experiment. Essentially run by forced labor--party
bosses draft minor scofflaws into service as a step short of prison--the
mines are an uneasy hive of former SS men, anarchists, optimistic
new socialists, and Russian soldiers keeping a wary eye on everything.
Resentments are a constant. Into this difficult situation enter
a handful of characters, including young Lotte (Ulrike Germer),
desired by three very different men, and middle-aged sweethearts
Jupp (Erwin Geschonneck) and Emmi (Manja Behrens), circus acrobats
who had been separated during the war. Shot in crisp black and
white, the film is an unusual hybrid of level-headed neo-realism
and bursts of expressionistic fantasia.
Review by Tom Keogh
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
Silent Star / Der
schweigende Stern |
 |
Science Fiction (1960)
Director: Kurt Maetzig
Starring: Yoko Tani, Oldrich Lukes
|
SYNOPSIS: Originally
released in East Germany as Der Schweigende Stern ("The
Silent Star") and in Poland as Milczaca gwiazda,
First Spaceship on Venus was partially intended as an anti-nuclear
tract. In 1985, a strange, extraterrestrial spool is discovered,
leading to a manned expedition to Venus. The multinational crew
includes American Brinkman (Gunther Simon), African Talua (Juliusz
Ongewe), and Japanese Sumiko Ogimura (Yoko Tani). After several
special-effects setpieces (and reams of dogmatic dialogue later),
the crew lands on Venus, only to discover that the planet's population
was wiped out by a nuclear error. Armed with this knowledge, the
expedition returns to earth with a warning for all mankind. The
film was based on a novel by noted Eastern Bloc sci-fi novelist
Stanislaw Lem.
Synopsis by Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
Defa Sci Fi Collection |
 |
1. Silent Star
2. Eolomea
3. In the Dust of Stars |
Buy DVD or VHS at AMAZON
| Find film at alibris |
All content on this site is copyrighted. © 2004-
VISTAWIDE.COM
Contact - About
us
|
