Titled “Third Ways in a Divided World. Utopia and Subversion”, the DOK Leipzig Retrospective will focus on the formation of the ideological fronts of the Cold War. This section will feature a compilation of films that reflect various aspirations of autonomy or view communist and socialist doctrine through a different lens. In this vein, the Retrospective also brings up DOK Leipzig’s own history as a festival.
The impact of the GDR maxim “If you’re not for us, you’re against us” was felt at what was then known as the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week particularly in the wake of the “purging plenary session” of the SED leadership in 1965. Thus, one of the questions explored in this Retrospective is the extent to which films were—or were not—screened in Leipzig that didn’t conform to a dualistic view of the world, such as those that revealed a liberalisation in the domestic and cultural policies of the “fraternal socialist countries”. Works by Jean Rouch, Peter Voigt, Dušan Makavejev, and Volker Via Lewandowsky will be screened in this programme, which was curated by film critic Sylvia Görke. The section opens with “The Truth About Fidel Castro Revolution” by Victor Pahlen (1959), an endorsement of the Cuban Revolution by US Hollywood star Errol Flynn, which was screened at the third edition of the Leipzig festival in 1960.
The “third ways” described in the Retrospective include communism in Cuba following the revolution, the Black Waves in Yugoslavia and Poland that were significant movements in film history, and positions taken on the Middle East conflict as the boundary between the ideological blocs. Furthermore, all of these “third ways” reflect a voluntary commitment to “anti-imperialism” and watershed moments in the politics of the Leipzig festival. With this in mind, the Retrospective also looks at films whose makers or protagonists were connected to revolutions, such as “Chile” (1975) by Juan Forch, or that took a critical approach to the excessive bureaucratisation of their own socialist environment, such as “Black Film” (1971) by Želimir Žilnik and “Refrain” (1972) by Krzysztof Kieślowski.
In some cases, the dissident potential of these films only becomes apparent when looking back at them. An example of this is Karlheinz Mund’s “15.000 Volt” (1963), in which Wolf Biermann’s “Frühjahrslied der Eisenbahnerin”, a song about a society hoping for change, can be heard—more than a decade before Biermann was expatriated from the GDR. Another example is “Hello Cubans” (1963) by Agnès Varda, which earned the Silver Dove in Leipzig in 1964, even though it portrayed a different kind of real-world socialism that fascinated but also annoyed the local ideological allies. The educational film “Something Self Explanatory (15x)” (1971) by Hartmut Bitomsky and Harun Farocki and “Associations” (1975) by British director John Smith probe another, playful kind of “third way”. Neither film was screened in Leipzig at the time of its release—one reason presumably being their facetious and satirical aspects.
“If we were to connect the geographic locations that this programme traverses, we’d end up with a pretty wild map—certainly not a purely East-West axis,” says curator Sylvia Görke. She also sees a correlation to current events in the way the films align with each other: “Terms such as ‘third way’ and ‘alternative’ came about in a context of removing ideological barriers, and people shouldn’t be allowed to simply appropriate them in order to advocate for new restrictions.”
This year’s Matinee Saxon State Archive will once again echo the theme of the Retrospective. Titled “So Comrades, Come Rally! The GDR in Solidarity”, this programme curated by Konstantin Wiesinger will present examples of local and regional amateur filmmaking. These works focus on the demonstrative solidarity of the GDR with the “oppressed peoples” of the world, that is, solidarity with the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, Chilean President Salvador Allende, and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The historical footage, created by film enthusiasts in youth organisations, companies, and clubs, shows interactions with people from other countries, such as during friendship visits and the World Youth Festival.
“Albeit unintentionally, this often led to skewed comparisons, blind spots, and co-opting attributions,” says Wiesinger. “Fortunately, film as a medium—just like filmed reality—usually turns out to be more powerful than the intended script. Disparities are clearly revealed through unintentional looks and inadvertent tragicomedy.”
The complete schedule for DOK Leipzig, including all dates and times, will be published on 10 October. Tickets will also go on sale at that time.
Please find the list of films in the programmes described above here:
Film Lists Retrospective + Matinee
The Retrospective is funded by the Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany. DOK Leipzig would like to thank the Saxon State Archives for their support of the Matinee.
