East Germany's film monopoly, Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft, produced a films ranging beyond simple propaganda to westerns, musicals, and children's films, among others. This book equips scholars with the historical background to understand East German cinema and guides the readers through the DEFA archive via examinations of twelve films.

Sebastian Heiduschke has produced a fine introduction to the cinema of East Germany that is aimed at a general, English-speaking student audience without previous exposure to the films of this now-defunct socialist country. (Stefan Soldovieri, Monatshefte, Vol. 108 (3), 2016)

Heiduschke's East German Cinema is a great resource for anyone interested in the history of post-World War II Germany and its profound and lasting effect on the state of both German and international cinema today. For the individual films themselves, this book essentially serves as a starter's guide to east German films, selecting only a handful of the hundreds of films produced by DEFA. (Stephen Belden, Film Matters, Vol. 6, 2015)

Autorentext
Sebastian Heiduschke is an assistant professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Oregon State University.

Inhalt
PART I: EAST GERMAN CINEMA 1. East German Cinema as State Institution 2. Reciprocities and Tensions: DEFA and the East German Entertainment Industry 3. A Cultural Legacy: DEFA's Afterlife PART II. FREEZES AND THAWS: CANONIZING DEFA 4. The Rubble Film, Wolfgang Staudte, and Post-War German cinema: Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us) 5. Fairytales and Children's Films as Eternal Blockbusters: Die Geschichte vom Kleinen Muck (The Story of Little Mook) 6. The Gegenwartsfilm, West Berlin as Hostile Other, and East Germany as Homeland: The Rebel Film Berlin Ecke Schönhauser (Berlin Schönhauser Corner) 7. The Birth of DEFA Genre Cinema, East German Sci-fi Films, New Technologies, and Co-production with Eastern Europe: Der schweigende Stern (Silent Star) 8. Film Censorship, the East German Nouvelle Vague, and the 'Rabbit Films': Das Kaninchen bin ich (The Rabbit is Me) 9. Renegade films, DEFA Musicals, and the genre cinema: Heißer Sommer (Hot Summer) 10. More Genre Cinema,The 'Red Western,' and Stardom in East Germany: Apachen (Apaches) 11. Gender, Class, and Sexuality: Ending Taboos in Die Legende von Paul und Paula (The Legend of Paul and Paula) 12. DEFA and the Holocaust, the Antifascist Legacy, and International Acclaim: Jakob der Lügner (Jacob the Liar) 13. The Women's Film, Konrad Wolf, and DEFA After the 'Biermann Affair': Solo Sunny 14. Passed by History: Dystopia, Parable, and Bookend: Die Architekten (The Architects) 15. The Wendeflicks, Jörg Foth, and DEFA after censorship: Letztes aus der Da-Da-eR (Latest from the Da-Da-eR)