Film Archive

Land (Film Archive)

Matinee Saxon State Archive 2021
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The Memorial
K. Kayser, B. Schmidt, K. Coccejus
Conveyed by innovative music and original sound bites, a disturbing dialogue between a memorial to National Socialist crimes and its viewers evolves.
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The Memorial

Das Mahnmal
K. Kayser, B. Schmidt, K. Coccejus
Matinee Saxon State Archive 2021
Documentary Film
GDR
1975
10 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

An innovative approach to the subject of National Socialism which uses a composition by Georg Katzer, a GDR pioneer of Neue Musik. The sound level – acoustic distortions and sound bites by leading representatives of the Third Reich – dominates, juxtaposed with minimalist images. A dialogue between viewers and memorial evolves in shots and counter shots.

Konstantin Wiesinger

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
K. Kayser, B. Schmidt, K. Coccejus
Producer
Amateurfilmstudio Fernsehsender Schwerin
Matinee Saxon State Archive 2023
Filmstill Three Decades Later
Three Decades Later
Volker Kastius
A visit to Volgograd exemplifies the GDR’s handling of the Nazi past: Germans are declared victims and resistance fighters against the Nazi regime.
Filmstill Three Decades Later

Three Decades Later

Drei Jahrzehnte später
Volker Kastius
Matinee Saxon State Archive 2023
Documentary Film
GDR
1977
15 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

A representative of the Volgograd Section of the German-Soviet Friendship Society recalls German “comrades who fought against Hitler here […] and at other front sectors.” Equalisation with the people in the Soviet Union is completed at the Mamayev Kurgan memorial: The (German) visitors merge with the survivors who mourn their fallen.

Konstantin Wiesinger

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Volker Kastius
Cinematographer
Willy Reitze
Producer
Amateurfilmstudio VEB Elektromotorenwerk Wernigerode
Matinee Saxon State Archive 2021
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The Grass Does Not Grow Over Everything
F. Faust
A narrator explains surviving evidence of the events on the grounds of the Langenstein-Zwieberge subcamp. The film ends with a formulaic ritual of remembrance.
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The Grass Does Not Grow Over Everything

Es wächst das Gras nicht über alles
F. Faust
Matinee Saxon State Archive 2021
Documentary Film
GDR
1985
10 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

A male voice, accompanied by the eponymous instrumental piece by Reinhard Lakomy, comments on photographic and material evidence of the events on the grounds of the Langenstein-Zwieberge subcamp. The audiovisual tour concludes with a visit by an FDJ (Free German Youth) group who lay down wreaths at the memorial site built in 1949. The speaker unequivocally classes this ritual of remembrance as part of the raison d’état.

Konstantin Wiesinger

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
F. Faust
Script
A. Faust
Cinematographer
R. Muschke
Editor
F. Faust
Producer
Technische Hochschule Magdeburg, Bezirkskabinett für Kulturarbeit Magdeburg
Narrator
J. Reinhardt
Matinee Saxon State Archive 2022
Filmstill Familie Butter
The Butter Family
An entertaining vision for International Women’s Day as an admonition, inspiration and commentary about gender relations in GDR everyday life, in the form of a puppet animation.
Filmstill Familie Butter

The Butter Family

Familie Butter
Matinee Sächsisches Staatsarchiv 2022
Documentary Film
GDR
1967
6 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

The married couple Angelika and Horst Butter sum up successes and setbacks of their joint amateur filmmaking. They now produce elaborate puppet animations in their private rooms, under sometimes adverse conditions. They adapt fairy tale and fantasy sources, but also take up topical social issues, for example in an entertaining vision for International Women’s Day.

Konstantin Wiesinger

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF)
Matinee Saxon State Archive 2022
Filmstill Wirbel um Arkadi
Turmoil Around Arkady
Liselotte Schließer
A Soviet dance instructor is expected to ensure the authenticity of the choreography of a children’s and youth dance ensemble’s Eastern European and Central Asian folk dances.
Filmstill Wirbel um Arkadi

Turmoil Around Arkady

Wirbel um Arkadi
Liselotte Schließer
Matinee Sächsisches Staatsarchiv 2022
Documentary Film
GDR
1967
11 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

With no introduction, the audience find themselves in the middle of the film’s subject. Soviet ballet master Arkady Sakharov instructs the children’s and youth dance ensemble of the Radebeul district’s arts centre with an insistent voice. Belarussian, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Russian folk dances are rehearsed under his strict guidance and performed at the packed local arts centre.

Konstantin Wiesinger

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Liselotte Schließer
Cinematographer
Liselotte Schließer