“DEFA films open up new perspectives”

Victoria Rizo Lenshyn: How did you actually end up at the DEFA Film Library, Mariana?

Mariana Ivanova: Like you, it was probably due to my fascination with GDR cinema. Unexpectedly, that began during my graduate studies in the US, when I discovered that the East German state film production company DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktien­gesellschaft) had cooperated with various studios and producers in both the East and the West. To extend existing ­research, I explored in my first book the role that DEFA had played in the European
film context. The study was based on around 55 joint projects and the lively cinematic exchange ­between East and West Germany – even though such exchange was banned by the state and never took place on an official state footing. And how did you get involved in DEFA ­research?

Rizo Lenshyn: During my bachelor’s degree in German and History I realised how underrepresented East German culture was in the curriculum. I was given the opportunity while doing my master’s at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to work closely together with the DEFA Film Library, where I was then able to help organise a Summer Film Institute about gender and sexuality in GDR films. Meanwhile, I did my PhD on female film stars in the GDR. During the Film Institute we discussed not only classics like Heiner Carow’s “Coming Out” (1989), but also less well-known films such as Helmut Kißling’s “Die andere Liebe” (1988) and the TV adaptation of “Guten Morgen, du Schöne” (1979). Both the Institute and my PhD research in Berlin were funded by the DAAD.

Ivanova: Yes, I still remember well how I took part as a graduate in the 2007 Summer Film Institute, which was likewise co-funded by the DAAD. It focused on the relations between DEFA and South American cinema, and I was impressed by the diversity of genres, styles and visual experiments. The various films that we watched and discussed at that time have hugely influenced both my research project and my understanding of the DEFA film legacy.

“The various films that we watched and discussed at that time have hugely influenced both my research project and my understanding of the DEFA film legacy.”

Dr Mariana Ivanova

Rizo Lenshyn: We also first met each other at that 2007 Summer Film Institute! Which DEFA films have you been interested in ever since?

Ivanova: It was then that I first came across Rainer Simon’s films, such as “Die Besteigung des Chimborazo” (1989), a DEFA co-production with West ­Germany that involved filmmakers from Ecuador – I was fascinated by the cooperation between the film crew and a Quechua community. Films that explore encounters that transcend borders and national-political discourse and address the search for a common language are still just as relevant ­today. It is also worth discovering DEFA films portraying everyday life and courageously tackling social and artistic issues – such as classics like Heiner Carow’s “Die Legende von Paul und Paula” (1972), Konrad Wolf’s “Solo Sunny” (1979) or Herrmann Zschoche’s “Insel der Schwäne” (1982). Which DEFA films would you watch and teach over and over again?

Rizo Lenshyn: Films that provide discussion points for comparisons and contrasts, in which the viewer can identify with the social issues raised in the films or be surprised by a new perspective or concept. There are also many documentaries that I enjoy watching, like the ones by Gerd Kroske for instance. My students and I find it fascinating how his films give not only their protagonists but also the audience space for reflection. I also often teach Helke Misselwitz’s “Winter Adé” (1989), in which the dir­ector talks with women about their everyday lives in “actually existing socialism” during a trip through East Germany by train.

Ivanova: Yes, that is also what makes DEFA films so appealing to me to this day: the way that East German films speak to us directly in a globalised world that continues to be heavily influenced by neoliberal values and show us examples of freedom of expression, solidarity and political activism. What do you think, Victoria, makes DEFA films so attractive to international audiences?

“I think it’s great that we initiated this award for the conception of a DEFA-related film programme, as it enables researchers, teachers and curators in the US and internationally to continue teaching and researching DEFA films.”

Dr Victoria Rizo Lenshyn

Rizo Lenshyn: Recently I took part in an event you curated at the 2024 Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival. It featured DEFA animated films from the 1970s by the Chilean artist Juan Forch, who was living in exile in East Germany. The audience included Chileans who now live in exile in the US and entered into conversation with participants who are or were political refugees themselves. They talked about the way different experiences of authoritarianism and exile are portrayed in film. My students also find DEFA productions relatable ­because they open up new perspectives on subjects such as being a woman, youth cultures, generational conflicts, sexuality, activism, post-war memories, racialisation – that is to say, the processes by which a group of people are defined by their skin colour or ethnicity – racism and environmental ­protection.

Ivanova: Yes, I frequently experience such animated debates with and between students in my film seminars too! Since you have talked about topics such as activism and environmental protection – I am also looking forward to our 12th Summer Film Institute “Screened Environments: Intersections of Built, Natural and Social Spaces in East Germany” in June 2025. It will focus on filmic representations of spaces in cities, nature and industrial areas are depicted in film; we will also discuss how DEFA films raise questions of environmental and social justice at times of crisis or stagnation.

Rizo Lenshyn: Yes, that’s a fascinating and topical subject. I’m also looking forward to the film screenings in the autumn, including our series of films with the guest artist Sibylle Schönemann. A series of films by Katrin Bahr, a recipient of our Programming Award, is also bound to be very interesting. It will provide an opportunity to discuss pressing global conflicts of the present day. I think it’s great that we initiated this award for the conception of a DEFA-related film programme, as it enables researchers, teachers and curators in the US and ­internationally to continue teaching and researching DEFA films. —

Dr Mariana Ivanova is an associate professor of ­German film and media at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and academic director of the DEFA Film Library based there. She has received funding from the DAAD twice: at Philipps-Universität Marburg in 1998 and at Augsburg University from 2004 to 2005. Her research focuses on German and (East) European cinema of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, academic and media discourse in cinema and theories of transnational film, co-productions and memory culture.

Dr Victoria Rizo Lenshyn is a DAAD alumna and associate director of the DEFA Film Library. Her research focuses on socialist star culture, gender studies, film studies and twentieth-century German cinema. She is currently exploring cultural reactions to the environmental crisis in the GDR in the 1970s and 1980s.

Established in 1993, the DEFA Film Library is a combined archive, production, lending and research centre devoted to a broad spectrum of filmmaking in and related to the former German Demo­cratic Republic (GDR). It is characterised by close cooperation with many national and international partner institutions, including the DEFA Foundation in Berlin and branches of the Goethe-Institut around the world.