Heroes of the DEFA! (in 2 parts)
East German film history ended with the demise of the GDR. It began in Potsdam-Babelsberg in 1946, with the foundation of the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (German Film Corporation). The DEFA received a license for the "production of film in all categories" from the Soviet occupying authorities, and held a monopoly in the industry in East Germany from that moment onward, celebrating enormous international successes, including Oscar nominations, Golden Bears, and distinctions at the Venice International Film Festival. During the 45 years of its existence, the more than 2000 employees of the DEFA produced more than 700 feature films and more than 500 television films.
In 2016, the DEFA will be celebrating its 70th birthday, and taking a look back at its eventful history. In order to tell this history, we speak with former DEFA heroes and heroines. Actors and directors tell of their successes and setbacks, of public response and of the unchallenged power of cultural functionaries. We learn how directors of feature films coped with the problems of "actually existing socialism." We learn how the censors intervened – and what kind of arguments they used – in film scenarios, in specific scenes, even interfering with the work of actors. We present cinematic images that have until now remained little more than memories in the minds of moviegoers in the former GDR.
The two-part documentary "Heroes of the DEFA!" is not devoted solely to the film history of the DEFA. We also immerse ourselves in the mental universe, in the everyday life of the GDR and the Federal Republic. In the film archives of the DEFA are testimonies to the colorful and multifarious image world of a society that no longer exists – but that awaits rediscovery.
