East German Films

October 30, 2007 9:47 PM

I need East German film recommendations. Not films about East Germany, but films MADE in East Germany.

I'm looking for typical films that are not Old Shatterhand, Winnetou or Karl May related.

Bonus points for films NOT dubbed:) Director names are helpful too.

posted by Etta Hollis to media & arts (16 comments total)

Heißer Sommer
posted by Electrius at 10:03 PM on October 30, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Die Legende von Paul und Paula
posted by gregb1007 at 10:12 PM on October 30, 2007

Good Bye Lenin!
posted by flod logic at 10:13 PM on October 30, 2007

Here's a list of 55, from Facets Multimedia.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:17 PM on October 30, 2007

I haven't seen any of these films personally, but here's what IMDB suggests. Unfortunately it looks like their script also picked up a few Soviet films that had an East German release, but it's easy to tell which is which.
posted by H-Bar at 10:18 PM on October 30, 2007

SFMOMA did a series of films from East Germany just recently:

http://tinyurl.com/2ocjb5
posted by ethel at 10:49 PM on October 30, 2007

sorry folks - a better link
posted by ethel at 10:51 PM on October 30, 2007

The Murderers are Among Us is pretty good:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038769/

Made in 1946, apparently the first German film after the war.
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:10 AM on October 31, 2007

Solo Sunny is ok, and pretty interesting for the little social details about that time.

I know I've seen two or three more, some years ago, but they were pretty crummy and my brain has decided to forget them, except for Ikarus. God that one was was dreadful. The things I did back then for the new experience of international film festivals, ugh.
posted by Iosephus at 2:54 AM on October 31, 2007

Little nitpick, sorry: Good Bye Lenin! isn't an East German film, it's a film that has East Germany as some of its subject matter.
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 3:51 AM on October 31, 2007

The Cinema of East Germany from DEFA has a retail sections with lots of vintage movies for sale.
posted by imposster at 7:35 AM on October 31, 2007

Seconding Paul & Paula. Very nice movie. Pretty.

The Murderers Are Among Us is interesting historically. First after the war, as IJ says, and the sets of the destroyed Berlin are amazing, mostly because they aren't sets, but in fact Berlin. Its strange, very vague, proximity guilt introduces an East German view of the Holocaust that continues for at least 20 years after.

Geteilte Himmel (Divided Heaven), based on the fairly well known Christa Wolf novel about two people separated by the division of Berlin, deals with East Germany's perspective on West Germany through the two characters.

Jakob, der Lügner was remade with Robin Williams recently. The original is very good. It's got a lot to say about Jews in WW2, obviously (though not as much as you might think), but also about the nature of and relationship between hope and untruth.
posted by fidelity at 7:45 AM on October 31, 2007

Oh, and I remember Apachen very fondly as well. It's a Western (Ostern!). The Apaches are the good guys in this case (just like in Soviet Russia). This was a thing that DEFA did for a while. I seem to remember being told that Apachen is the best of them.
posted by fidelity at 7:50 AM on October 31, 2007

Coming Out, directed by Heiner Carow, was one of the few gay films produced in East Germany (it premiered the night the wall came down).
posted by metabrilliant at 8:44 AM on October 31, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Little nitpick, sorry: Good Bye Lenin! isn't an East German film, it's a film that has East Germany as some of its subject matter.

I don't know, I figured that "films MADE in East Germany" would include films filmed in East Germany, which Good Bye Lenin! was.
posted by flod logic at 12:09 PM on October 31, 2007

Goodbye Lenin! was filmed as if it WERE in East Germany.
(Good film, but not what I need.)

I'm specifically looking for films that came out of East Germany, had East German directors, and East German actors.

Also, Apachen falls under the Karl May/ East German "Westerns" category. Sorry I failed to clarify what subject matter Karl May and Old Shatterhand contained.
posted by Etta Hollis at 2:35 PM on October 31, 2007