Cinematographic Art from Nine Decades

PROGRESS, one of the biggest distributors of repertoire films in Germany, has in its film stock the complete DEFA film heritage, Eastern European film classics, award-winning children’s films as well as documentaries, historical periodicals and newsreels. The classic repertoire is constantly complemented by new acquisitions, among them new Arthouse films like Strike, but also children’s films and documentaries like And if they haven't passed away... The Children from Golzow.

Cinema Classics: DEFA Films

Ever since the foundation of PROGRESS Film-Vertrieb GmbH in 1950, all PROGRESS activities have been centred around DEFA films. PROGRESS Film-Verleih holds the exclusive worldwide rights for all media to the DFEA film stock. This unique film heritage includes feature and short films, animated films and documentaries, newsreels and periodicals produced between 1946 and 1990. Fourteen of the "100 most important German films of all times", chosen by film journalists and historians, are part of the PROGRESS film stock.

Award-winning International Cinematographic Art

PROGRESS Film-Verleih has numerous classics of Eastern European cinematographic art by Nikita Michalkow, Wassili Schukschin, István Szabó, Zoltán Fábri and Krzysztof Zanussi. The stock contains currently about 4 000 German dubbed versions.
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Great Films for Small Viewers

German and international children’s films are rounded off by DEFA fairytale films. The tradition starts with The Cold Heart, the first German colour film after the war, and continues with the world famous Story of Little Mook directed by the unforgotten Wolfgang Staudte. The films from the DEFA Studio for Animated Films in Dresden for young audiences have a very artistic touch. Among them: The Goose Girl, Sleeping Beauty and Alarm At The Puppet Theatre.

New productions of children’s and youth films complete the film stock for young audiences that are enchanted by imaginative stories like Lawrence In The Land of Liars and popular adaptations of books for young people such as Pinky and the Million Pug.
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See and Listen for Yourself

The DEFA Wochenschauen (newsreels) The Eye Witness are unique historical documents from February 19th, 1946 to December 19th, 1980. Periodicals like the Monthly Pioneer News, Stingers From East Germany and the DEFA-Kinobox show a detailed picture of the times. The Katholische Filmwerk produced newsreels under different content parameters from 1953 to 1962. With Walter Heynowski and Gerhard Scheumann in charge, films were produced in the Studio H&S since 1965 that were supposed to have an impact on reality.
More about Documentary Films