The Eye Witness - 35 Years of Film History

On February 19th, 1946, the very first Eye Witness was shown in ten copies in Berlin cinemas. In order to clearly differ from the national socialist newsreels, the responsible editor and production manager Kurt Maetzig wanted a new concept and style. The motto was: “See for yourself – listen for yourself – judge for yourself”. Kurt Maetzig in an interview in 1999: “I think when hearing the motto nowadays you can still feel that it arose from a democratic spirit. It was targeted against the subservience that was dominant in Germany not only during the Nazi era but even way before that.” But this democratic claim could not be held up for a long time. “The Eye Witness” turned more and more into an instrument to spread socialist policies and culture. Today, the over 2000 parts of “The Eye Witness” allow us an historically interesting insight in over three decades of events and Cold War politics.

Studio H&S - Political Documentaries

Walter Heynowski and Gerhard Scheumann worked together for almost three decades. Their different artistic talents complemented one another: Scheumann, who had a wonderful voice according to Heynowski, spoke the texts himself in most of the German versions. Scheumann as a man of letters wrote for the accompanying publications. H&S saw themselves in the tradition of Dziga Vertov. They were of the opinion that there was no such thing as apolitical cinema and that film makers had to get involved.

Their general themes were the great changes of the 20th century. Heynowski and Scheumann showed their view of reality in a moral dimension, took a stand on the great political and philosophical questions of the century. Emotionalization, exposure, pictorial imparting of knowledge by ways of contrast montages and the use of historical material were parts of their stylistic devices.
H&S were internationally renowned for political film making. The H&S documentaries had a wide circulation for the genre, shown in more than 75 countries. Thus, they were a trademark of East German film – though not portraying life in the GDR.

H&S, the short films: The political pamphletic short films were originally intended for the big screen though nearly all of them were shown on TV as well. In cinemas they were shown as supporting films, side shows or at short film discussion evenings.

Overview H&S-Films (PDF 472 KB)

DEFA Documentaries on Everyday Topics

More than 5 800 documentaries, newsreels and periodicals are part of PROGRESS Film-Verleih's program – to be shown in cinemas or included in TV or film productions. The great themes of life: coming of age, love, the world of work and nature, artists and the “girl next door”, sports and science – always from the point of view of the decade and of the film maker. Furthermore, long-term portraits of the GDR like the Wittstock films by Volker Koepp and The Children from Golzow by Barbara and Winfried Junge.

Videoclips made in GDR - DEFA Disco-Filme

Video jockeys and video samples shown on big screens are part of today’s club culture, but even in the 70s these devices were appreciated. The DEFA Studio for Documentaries produced an unusual genre – the so-called Disco-Films: bold music clips, ambitious art films and expressive documentaries. The films from the 70s and 80s were not only meant to be supporting films in cinemas. Today they convey an authentic picture of the aesthetics of pop and of the coming music video culture. Stars like Karat, the Puhdys, Chris Doerk and Reinhard Lakomy, Rock and pop groups like Omega, Floh de Cologne and Skorpio can be seen in the short films with parts of live concerts and nowadays quite amusing interview passages.

The DEFA Disco Films offer the entertaining opportunity not only to listen to the music of the seventies and eighties again, but to really get to know it. In April 2004, the Film Festival Dresden dedicated a small retrospective to this music and film phenomenon.

Overview DISCO-FILME (PDF)

Catholic Newsreels of the 50s and 60s

For decades, newsreels were the medium people used to inform themselves of what was happening in the world. Especially in the post-war period, the diverse productions were known under the collective term “Wochenschau” and were only superseded by television broadcasting the latest events. Part of these newsreels was the catholic Zeitschau, respectively Spiegel der Zeit from part 26 on. Produced by the Katholische Filmwerk in Rottenburg, the monthly newsreels show events of church life and of the world. Overall 109 parts of the 10 to 15 minutes films were produced between 1953 and 1962. They are important examples of the comprehensive catholic commitment to film work in those years.