Films A–Z

Programme & Tickets

A-Z
Filters
Filter by
View by

Matinee Saxon State Archive

International solidarity with the oppressed of the earth was not only celebrated in countless songs, but was also a moral obligation for the GDR as one of the lessons learned from National Socialism. This ran counter to a bi-partite world order in which foreign politics had to bow to geostrategic and power-political calculations.

Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill The Festival Was Everywhere
The Festival Was Everywhere
collective
With the participation of several company and amateur film associations, the film accompanies a trip to Leipzig by delegations from 40 countries on the occasion of the 10thWorld Youth Games in Berlin.
Filmstill The Festival Was Everywhere

The Festival Was Everywhere

Festival war überall
collective
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
GDR
1973
12 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

East Berlin plays host to the world at the 10th World Youth Festival. The secret capital of the GDR, Leipzig, also gets some reflected glory. On 3 August 1973, festival delegations from forty countries take a special train to the trade fair city. Between the official events there is room for ambiguous side glances, captured in this report of the day made by several Leipzig company and amateur film groups.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
collective
Producer
Pionierfilmstudio Haus der Jungen Pioniere “Georg Schwarz” Leipzig, Ensemble “Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft” Leipzig, Club Leipziger Filmamateure, VEB Verlade- und Transportanlagen Leipzig, VEB Spezialbaukombinat Leipzig

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill Moscow Mosaic [excerpt]
Moscow Mosaic [excerpt]
Alfred Dorn
In the summer of 1957, the talented amateur filmmaker Alfred Dorn travelled to Moscow for the 6thWorld Youth Games and wandered the Soviet metropolis with his camera in amazement.
Filmstill Moscow Mosaic [excerpt]

Moscow Mosaic [excerpt]

Moskauer Mosaik [Ausschnitt]
Alfred Dorn
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
GDR
1957
10 minutes
without dialogue
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

Moscow, summer 1957: The famous amateur filmmaker Alfred Dorn takes us to the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, which was intended to promote encounters and exchange between young people from all over the world as a reaction to the Second World War. Curious and amazed, the camera explores the metropolis Moscow with its iconic buildings and squares, complete with numerous festival visitors.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Alfred Dorn
Cinematographer
Alfred Dorn

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill The New President
The New President
collective
In 1945, US President Harry S. Truman authorised the dropping of two nuclear bombs on Japan. In 1969, this amateur movie recalls this decision in a drastic montage of contrasts.
Filmstill The New President

The New President

Der neue Präsident
collective
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
GDR
1969
4 minutes
without dialogue
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

This pointed montage of contrasts recalls the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, authorised by US President Harry S. Truman, and the devastating consequences: images of Harry in a warm embrace with a girl, images of wounded children in Japan. In September 1945, the island state in the Far East surrendered and the Second World War was officially over.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
collective
Producer
Amateurfilmstudio Bezirkskabinett für Kulturarbeit Potsdam

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill Por la Vida
Por la Vida
collective
A contemporary documentary from Chile about the 1970 presidential election campaign, in support of the candidate Salvador Allende, who was to become world-famous.
Filmstill Por la Vida

Por la Vida

Por la Vida
collective
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
Chile
1970
10 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

Students of the State Technical University in Santiago de Chile film and accompany the “March for Life”, which was part of the September 1970 presidential elections in their country. An electoral alliance of communists, socialists and sections of the Christian centre, the “Unidad Popular”, successfully supported Salvador Allende’s bid for the presidency.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
collective
Producer
Universidad Técnica del Estado – Área de Comunicaciones y Extensión, Central Única de Trabajadores de Chile

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill The Womb He Crawled from Still Is Going Strong
The Womb He Crawled from Still Is Going Strong
Josef Hovorka
Even after 1945, the Jewish resistance against the persecution and murder of the Jews in Europe by the Germans during the Second World War is not present in the collective memory.
Filmstill The Womb He Crawled from Still Is Going Strong

The Womb He Crawled from Still Is Going Strong

Der Schoß ist fruchtbar noch, aus dem das kroch
Josef Hovorka
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Fictional Film
GDR,
Czechoslovakia
1973
10 minutes
without dialogue
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

After the Wehrmacht invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, the Jewish population was disenfranchised and killed, as this etude, staged at the Terezín Memorial, recalls. The fact that there was successful Jewish resistance even in extermination camps like Sobibór did not fit in with the traditional image of the passive victims that is melodramatically re-enforced by this film.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Josef Hovorka
Script
Josef Hovorka
Cinematographer
Rainer Hässelbarth
Producer
AmateurFilmClub “Energie” VEB Energiekombinat Berlin, Filmové Studio Odborový dům kultury pracujících Ústí nad Labem

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill [Sierra Leone]
[Sierra Leone]
unknown
Young people from the GDR and Sierra Leone meet away from well-rehearsed gestures and diplomatic protocols. The guests preserve their independence in both senses of the word.
Filmstill [Sierra Leone]

[Sierra Leone]

[Sierra Leone]
unknown
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
GDR
1968
10 minutes
without dialogue
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

A mysterious film reel from the “Regional Film Studio Leipzig” holdings: labelled “Sierra Leone”, passed down without sound. After some official speeches, an ensemble from Sierra Leone perform a danced symbolic fight for their GDR hosts. Later, local and international couples sway on the dance floor to live music – non-protocol encounters with independent guests, in both senses of the word.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
unknown

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill Solidarity in Action
Solidarity in Action
collective
In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the GDR explicitly supported the UN Partition Plan at first, only to adopt an increasingly one-sided position from 1965 onwards.
Filmstill Solidarity in Action

Solidarity in Action

Solidarität in Aktion
collective
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
GDR
1970
5 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

Under the banner of international solidarity, Arab children from refugee camps in Jordan are spending a holiday in the GDR in 1970. This political gesture ties in with the recently redefined position of the GDR in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the World Youth Festival in 1973, Yasser Arafat was already seen standing next to Erich Honecker on camera.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
collective
Producer
Amateurfilmcentrum Frankfurt an der Oder

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill Tania in Berlin [excerpt]
Tania in Berlin [excerpt]
Heinz Thomas
After the military coup against Salvador Allende’s socialist government in September 1973, around 2,000 selected Chileans fled to the GDR where they were granted political asylum.
Filmstill Tania in Berlin [excerpt]

Tania in Berlin [excerpt]

Tania in Berlin [Ausschnitt]
Heinz Thomas
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
GDR
1977
10 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

After the military coup in Chile and the death of Salvador Allende in 1973, tens of thousands of opposition members were persecuted and murdered. The GDR took in about 2,000 refugees, including nine-year-old Tania and her family. The fact that the GDR was initially sceptical about Allende’s politics and granted political asylum only to selected Chileans is part of the logic of a bipolar world order.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Heinz Thomas
Cinematographer
Peter Scharf, Olaf Ullmann
Producer
Amateurfilmcentrum Frankfurt an der Oder
Sound
Jörg Wendlandt, Jorg Peter Langsch

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Filmstill Vietnam Is Not Alone
Vietnam Is Not Alone
collective
Four GDR citizens, among them the artist Willi Sitte, explain their reasons for supporting Vietnam by a variety of means.
Filmstill Vietnam Is Not Alone

Vietnam Is Not Alone

Vietnam ist nicht allein
collective
Matinee Saxon State Archive
Documentary Film
GDR
1968
8 minutes
without dialogue
Subtitles: 
None
No Premiere

Pensioner Lehmann, folk artist Köppe, engineer Krahnstöver and the famous painter Willi Sitte: Four GDR citizens explain their motives and actions for solidarity with Vietnam. The emphasis is on the global nature of the protests against the war in the Far East, also and especially in Western countries, and therefore the system-spanning character of the movement. An appeal to the audience to get involved.


Konstantin Wiesinger

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
collective
Producer
Filmkollektiv VEB Elektrochemisches Kombinat Bitterfeld

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact