DEFA Film Library
DEFA Film Library >
146
Videos
Loading more films...
146 Videos in DEFA Film Library
Loading...
Sort by:
Subjects
Global Studies & Languages
German Studies
Movies
World Cinema
Classic Cinema
Drama
Social Sciences
History - Modern
Documentaries
European/Baltic Studies
Jewish Studies
The Arts
Art & Artists
Historical Perspectives
Visual Art
Romance
Comedy
Politics & Current Affairs
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Early Film
Film Studies
History - Military
Law & Criminal Justice
War & Action
Women & Society
Anthropology
LGBT
LGBTQ Cinema
Music
Political Science
Religion & Philosophy
Short Film
See More
Filmmakers
Konrad Wolf
Kurt Maetzig
Frank Beyer
Herrmann Zschoche
Günter Reisch
Heiner Carow
Gerhard Klein
Gottfried Kolditz
Iris Gusner
Rainer Simon
Slatan Dudow
Wolfgang Staudte
Egon Günther
Peter Kahane
Ralf Kirsten
Siegried Kühn
Andreas Voigt
Dietrich Wagner
Frank Vogel
Gerd Kroske
Helmut Dziuba
Joachim Kunert
Jörg Foth
Jürgen Böttcher
Lothar Warneke
Rolf Bickel
Bernd Böhm
Christoph Engel
Dieter Schumann
Eduard Schreiber
Egon Schlegel
Erich Engel
Evelyn Schmidt
Falk Harnack
Francesco Stefani
Georg C. Klaren
Gerhard Lamprecht
Giovanni Angella
Günter Stahnke
Günther Rücker
Hamacher Sieglinde
Hannelore Unterberg
Hans Moser
Heiner Carow
Helke Misselwitz
Helke Misselwitz
Helmut Dzuiba
Herwig Kipping
Holly Fisher
Horst Seemann
Hugo Hermann
Janos Veiczi
Joachim Hasler
Joachim Herz
Joop Huisken
Josef Mach
Jörg d'Bomba
Karl Gass
Karlheinz Mund
Klaus Georgi
Kurt Tetzlaff
Lev Arnshtam
Lew Hohmann
Lothar Barke
Lothar Warnecke
Lutz Dammbeck
Lutz Stuetzner
Marion Rasche
Martin Hellberg
Max Jaap
Otto Sacher
Peter Missbach
Peter Voigt
Richard Groschopp
Roland Gräf
Roland Gräf
Roland Steiner
Siegfried Hartmann
Siegfried Kühn
Stefan Roloff
Ted Tetzke
Thomas Rosié
Ulrich Weiß
Ulrich Weiß
Volker Koepp
Walter Beck
Winfried Junge
See More
Features
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Erwin Geschonneck
Rolf Hoppe
Ekkehard Schall
Hilmar Thate
Michael Gwisdek
Rolf Ludwig
Ulrich Thein
Angelica Domröse
Gerry Wolff
Gojko Mitic
Hans Hardt-Hardtloff
Jenny Gröllmann
Jutta Hoffmann
Karin Gregorek
Käthe Reichel
Manfred Krug
Paul Bildt
Rolf Römer
Willy A. Kleinau
Alfred Müller
Annekathrin Bürger
Arno Paulsen
Arno Wyzniewski
Blanche Kommerell
Brigitte Krause
Christel Bodenstein
Dagmar Manzel
Dieter Franke
Dirk Kummer
Eberhard Esche
Ernst-Georg Schwill
Franciszek Pieczka
Fred Delmare
Fred Düren
Gudrun Ritter
Hans Leibelt
Hans-Joachim Hegewald
Hans-Peter Minetti
Harry Hindemith
Heide Kipp
Helmut Schreiber
Herwart Grosse
Inge Keller
Jaecki Schwarz
Jürgen Hentsch
Katharina Thalbach
Katrin Martin
Katrin Sass
Kurt Böwe
Lissy Tempelhof
Lotte Loebinger
Manja Behrens
Marylu Poolman
Milan Beli
Paul Esser
Peter Sodann
Sonja Sutter
Stefan Lisewski
Ute Lubosch
Uwe Kockisch
Werner Lierck
Werner Stötzer
Winfried Glatzeder
A.R. Penck
Albert Hetterle
Albert Zahn
Alexander Lang
Alexander Rohde
Alfred Balthoff
Alfred Struwe
Andrea Meissner
Angelika Waller
Anja Kling
Anke Friedrich
Anne-Kathrein Kretzschmar
Anneliese Book
Annette Büschelberger
Arthur Schröder
Axel Bunke
Axel Werner
Barbara Brecht-Schall
Barbara Dittus
Barbara Lübbert
Barbara Zinn
Ben Becker
Benjamin Mihan
Blandine Ebinger
Bohumil Vavra
Bozena Stryjkówna
Bruno Apitz
Carl Weber
Carmela
Catherine Stoyan
Charles Knetschke
Chris Doerk
Christine Gloger
Christoph Hein
Claudia Geisler
Claus Holm
See More
Page 1
The Murderers are Among Us - Die Mörder sind unter uns
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
In 1945, after three years in a concentration camp, the artist Susanne Wallner (Hildegard Knef) returns to a Berlin in ruins. Shot in the rubble of Berlin just a year after WWII, The Murderers Are among Us was the first…
Coming Out
Although he has a girlfriend who is expecting his child, Philipp, a young teacher in Berlin, meets Matthias and falls in love. After years of repressing his homosexuality, he must finally accept himself for who he truly is. The first…
The Fiancée - Die Verlobte
Germany, 1934: Hella Lindau and her fiance Hermann Reimers are members of an anti-Nazi resistance group. When they are betrayed, Hella takes the blame and is sentenced to ten years in prison for high treason. Though Hermann is not allowed…
The Silent Star - Der schweigende Stern
The first science-fiction film brought out in East Germany, THE SILENT STAR is based on Stanislaw Lem's mysterious novel, The Astronauts (1951). In it, an international expedition is sent to Venus to decipher a message found in the Gobi desert…
3 videos
The Architects - Die Architekten
Filmed as the GDR crumbled, this somber, finely drawn portrait of life in East Berlin depicts a young architect whose life and goals are strangled by communist dogma represented by the older generation. THE ARCHITECTS was one of the first…
3 videos
The Naked Man on the Sports Field - Der nackte Mann auf dem Sportplatz
Kemmel is almost 40. Although little throws the good-natured sculptor off, he is torn... between wanting to address his generation's memories of the Holocaust, and disappointment that many people don't understand his works--despite official programs to bring art to the…
Isabel on the Stairs
Twelve-year-old Isabel and her mother, who was a famous political singer, had to escape Chile after the 1973 military coup. Isabel's father stayed behind fighting in the underground. For six years, they have lived in a new apartment building in…
Trace of Stones - Spur der Steine
Based on Erik Neutsch's novel of the same title, TRACE OF STONES is a complex political drama blended with an at times comic triangular love story.
Foreman Balla is the self-proclaimed king of a massive construction site. His co-workers stick…
2 videos
The Legend of Paul and Paula - Die Legende von Paul und Paula
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
Author Ulrich Plenzdorf and director Heiner Carow winningly portray everyday life in East Berlin in a passionate, but star-crossed love story. Featuring the music of the East German cult rock band, The Pudhys, the film proved so popular that official…
Midnight Revue - Revue um Mitternacht
Famous producer Otto Kruse brags that he will produce a successful, new kind of revue film. When the project is close to failing, he orders his stage manager to "do what it takes."
Soon his young female assistant finds herself…
Dusk - 1950s East Berlin Bohemia
Berlin in the 1950s: divided, but not yet walled. Young artists, at the start of their careers and seeking a new lifestyle, frequented the East Berlin cafes and bars that were meeting places for intellectuals, as well as Cold War…
Hot Summer - Heisser Sommer
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
For summer vacation, two groups of high school students hitchhike to the Baltic Sea, where fun and trouble mix to create ties of friendship and love. After DEFA made a number of "pessimistic" films for teenagers, this musical was a…
Sabine Kleist, Age 7 - Sabine Kleist, 7 Jahre
Since her parents died in a car accident, Sabine has lived in an orphanage. When Edith--her beloved caretaker and the only adult she trusts--leaves to have a baby, Sabine runs away. Like Alice in Wonderland, the spunky little girl wanders…
Divided Heaven - Der geteilte Himmel
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
After a breakdown, Rita returns to her childhood village in 1961. As she recovers, she remembers the past two years: her love for the chemist Manfred, ten years her senior; how his enthusiasm about his new chemical process turned to…
Jacob the Liar - Jakob der Lügner
In his bittersweet comedy loaded with human quirks and nuance, Jacob invents news reports to bolster the spirits of the other Jews living in his Polish ghetto under Nazi occupation. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in…
2 videos
All My Girls - Alle meine Mädchen
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film
Despite his lack of enthusiasm, film student Ralf is assigned to make a documentary about a team of six women workers at a light bulb factory in Berlin. At first, the team seems to work and get along together without…
The Red Orchestra - Inside a Nazi Resistance Party
The Red Orchestra was a resistance group that fought against Nazi power within Germany from 1933 to 1942. The Gestapo labeled them as communists and traitors for their efforts to put an end to Hitler's reign -- a theory that…
I Was Nineteen - Ich war neunzehn
Gregor is a young soldier entering Germany with the victorious Soviet troops at the end of WWII. But he is also the child of left-wing Germans who fled from Hitler and spent the war in the Soviet Union. As a…
3 videos
Kuhle Wampe, or Who Owns the World? - Kuhle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt?
This Weimar era film classic uses an avant-garde, fragmented narrative to tell the story of a working-class family in Berlin in 1931. Survival is difficult, with massive unemployment in the wake of the Great Depression. After Anni's brother commits suicide…
Goya - Goya oder der arge Weg der Erkenntnis
As a painter in the court of King Carlos IV of Spain, Goya has attained wealth and reputation. He believes in king and church, but he is also a Spaniard who dearly loves his people - a contradiction that presents…
3 videos