TY  - BOOK
AU  - Rosemary Stott
PY  - 2012
CY  - Oxford, United Kingdom
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 1661-0261
SN  - 9783035302165
TI  - Crossing the Wall
T2  - The Western Feature Film Import in East Germany
DO  - 10.3726/978-3-0353-0216-5
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1043864
N2  - More than twenty years after its collapse in 1989, the Berlin Wall remains a symbol of the vigour with which communist East Germany kept out the ‘corrupting influences’ of neighbouring West Germany. However, despite the restrictions, a surprising number of artistic works, including international films, did ‘cross the Wall’ and reach audiences in the wide network of cinemas in East Germany.  This book takes a fresh look at cinema as a social and cultural phenomenon in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and analyses the transnational film relations between East Germany and the rest of the world. Drawing on a range of new archival material, the author explores which films were imported from the West, what criteria were applied in their selection, how they were received by the national press and film audiences, and how these imports related to DEFA (East German) cinema. The author places DEFA films alongside the international films exhibited in the GDR and argues that film in East Germany was actually more transnational in character than previously thought.
KW  - The Western Feature Film Import in East Germany, communist East Germany, cinema as a social and cultural phenomenon in the German Democratic Republic, collapse in 1989, the Berlin Wall, Dubbing and censorship processes for import film in the GDR
LA  - English
ER  -