Newswise — "Wende Flicks: Last Films from East Germany," a two- week showcase of movies opening Feb. 28 in Los Angeles, was organized by the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and The Wende Museum in Culver City, Calif.
The film series commemorates the "Wende," the great turning point that took place in Germany 20 years ago with the fall of the communist regime, according to Barton Byg, UMass Amherst professor and director of the DEFA Film Library, the only archive and research center outside Europe devoted to East German filmmaking.
"Since this is the beginning of the year's commemoration of the fall of the Wall 20 years ago, there is renewed curiosity about what it all meant," says Byg. "Many Americans have no memory of the divided Germany and most never had much information on the East."
"Wende Flicks" is part of a citywide program of German cultural events complementing the exhibition "Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures," that opened last month at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Academy Award nominee Armin Mueller-Stahl is serving as honorary host of the film series.
"'Art of Two Germanys' has received praise from critics for showing both the unique accomplishments of the East German artists and the intriguing connections between East and West, despite the Cold War," says Byg. "The DEFA Film Library presents the film counterpart to this."
The film series showcases 10 features and four documentaries made by East German filmmakers between 1988 and 1994. Lost in the midst of social change, many of the films were never screened outside of Germany.
"Nothing captures the period and its cultural implications better than these films made by East German filmmakers as their country evaporated," says Skyler Arndt-Briggs, associate director of the DEFA Film Library, who planned the film series with Justin Jampol, founder of The Wende Museum.
"With few exceptions, the films have been pretty much ignored since they were made," says Byg. "Audiences in the newly unified Germany had other concerns and rapidly changing production and market conditions made it extremely challenging to promote the films. The DEFA Film Library worked with six different companies in Germany, as well as government and cultural officials, to bring the films out of the archives to the international screen."
Audiences in Los Angeles will benefit from the newly added English subtitles, he says, and the films will soon be part of the circulating and research collection of films related to East Germany housed at UMass Amherst.
Byg says audiences will be impressed by the artistic range of the works. "They confirm the reputation for quality in the DEFA studios and its successors, who produced 'The Reader,' for instance. On the other hand, the bitter, sometimes surreal, creativity and powerful realism expand what has been a rather narrow view of East German film art."
Los Angeles screening venues for Wende Flicks include LACMA and the Hammer Museum, and UCLA, giving the DEFA Film Library at UMass some high profile exposure. "I think it's amazing that, in all, 17 of our films will be shown," says Byg. "We've never had a collaboration of this scope before. Hats off to Sky for her programming vision."
Both Byg and Arndt-Briggs are participating in the film showcase. Byg will introduce the opening film, "The Tango Player," on Feb. 28 and "Jana and Jan" on March 6 during a Wende Flicks symposium at the UCLA Library. Arndt-Briggs will introduce "Silent Country" on March 3.
According to Byg, the films will travel to the East Coast in the fall. "Art of Two Germanys" is slated to open at the German Historical Museum in Berlin on Oct. 3, the national holiday commemorating German unification. "We hope that the fact that our films are being presented in the context of this landmark exhibition in L.A. will bring them new and critical attention in Germany."
Support from the series was provided by the German Information Center USA , the DEFA-Stiftung (Berlin), the UCLA Library and the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany for Los Angeles.
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