| August 24, 2006 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
East German films screened at Dryden Theatre in September
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House
presents a series of four East German films on Thursdays in September - films
that are unknown to most film enthusiasts around the world. Between 1946 and
1992, the East German State-owned DEFA studios produced more than 7,500 films.
The Museum of Modern Art, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institute New York
and the DEFA film library at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, mounted
in 2005 the most comprehensive retrospective of East German cinema ever in the
United States. The films of the Dryden Theatre series are among the best films
from that retrospective.
The Dryden series begins on Thursday, Sept. 7 with Berlin:
Schönhauser Corner, a German Democratic Republic (GDR) teen classic from
the '50s and a sort-of East German Rebel Without a Cause. Directed by
Gerhard Klein, it's a perceptive social portrayal of a city in which political
and economic division have affected the entire population.
During the years of their production, most DEFA films were rarely shown
outside the communist world, and several were banned altogether, including Kurt
Maetzig's The Rabbit Is Me, screening on Thursday, Sept. 14. Maetzig's story of
a politically charged love affair was the first of a group of films made in
1965, each of which was subsequently banned and which collectively became known
as the "Rabbit Films." Rounding out the series are Egon Günther's sweetly comic
and feminist Her Third, screening Thursday, Sept. 21, and the longest-playing
film in East German history, Heiner Carow's psychedelic The Legend of Paul and
Paula, screening Thursday, Sept. 28.
These selections from the nearly 50-year history of East German cinema were
chosen for their creativity and their challenge to authority and the status quo. Each film represents a unique artistic voice and suggests something beyond the
stereotypical and frequently untrue images of GDR life often held not just by
non-privileged outsiders, but also by the East German State.
Dryden Theatre admission is $6 general public; $5 students; and $4 members.
For more information please call (585) 271-3361 or visit
www.eastmanhouse.org.
Attention Media: For additional information or high-resolution images, please fill out this form to obtain the address of the Press Room's FTP site.
| 
