Between State Art and Underground – Animated Film in the GDR

hough the majority of those films were for children, animated film from the GDR is much more than that. The programme shows short film treasures and artistic friction which are the result of the special situation which prevailed at the time. The programme includes on the one hand a collection of animated short films from the DEFA studio in Dresden and on the other examples from the filmic underground movement associated with the artist a.r. penck, which became increasingly productive from the mid seventies onwards. The programme includes early animated films, for example, the silhouette films by Bruno J. Böttge which continue with and further develop the silhouette films by Lotte Reiniger. Films wich deal with contemporary historical issues are also represented in the programme; „Gleich links hinterm Mond“ by Günter Rätz, for example, which was made in 1959 in the spirit of the „Space Race“ between the USSR and the USA. „Einmart“ by Lutz Dammbeck, produced in 1981, is not only curious but one of the most important films from the GDR. Although it was made in the state-run DEFA studio, it deals explicitly with fantasies of flight. The film scholar, Claus Löser describes „Einmart“ as „the most compact impossibility in the film history of the DEFA“. Of particular note are the high technical standard of all films, the odd subversive idea such as in Lutz Stützner Film „Die Panne“ (The Breakdown) and the artistic creative will independent of all dogma as can be found in the films of Sieglinde Hamacher. The programme was compiled with the kind support of the German Institute of Animated Film in Dresden.

BW-Reel – Best of Animation Baden-Württemberg

The BW-Reel programme comprises animated films from Baden-Wuerttemberg which were produced last year and shows the diversity of the Baden-Wuerttemberg animation scene. It included student productions from the Baden-Wuerttemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg and from the Media University in Stuttgart. The Stuttgart region’s studio scene is also well represented thanks to the inclusion of Studio Soi and Studio Film Bilder – two internationally successful companies. The BW-Reel contains “The Sisters and Audrey”, the winner of the Robert Bosch sponsorship award. Other important names from the Baden-Wuerttemberg scene are Gild Alkabetz, whose film “The DaVinci Time Code” won the award for best music at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, and Jürgen Haas, a well-known stop-motion animation filmmaker. “The Iron Tower” is another top-class artistic animated film included in the programme. The film is the work of Christoph Horch, a graduate of the Film Academy. The longer films are interspersed with (social) spots and various trailers for the Festival of Animated Film.

Contemporaries – Present-Day German Animated Film

Puppet animation, classical animation, computer animation and artistic mixed forms – the „Contemporaries“ programme includes the most exciting, German artistic short films produced over the last twenty years. Beginning with the cheerless parable „Balance“ by Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein, for which they won the Oscar for the best short animated film as students, through the painterly-poetic films of the likes of Jochen Kuhn or Kirsten Winter right through the innovative computer animations by the artist twosome Hanna Nordholt and Fritz Steingrobe or the animation trio Tom Weber, Jan Bitzer and Ilja Brunck – the programme illustrates the diversity of German animated film. Other great names associated with the German animated film scene are also included in the programme: Gil Alkabetz, Andreas Hykade and Raimund Krumme, who impress with a minimalist approach and a universal narrative style. Many of the programme’s animated short films were produced in German film schools such as the School of Art in Kassel ort he Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Abstract, opulent, witty, subversive and always with great depth and full of brillant images – German artistic animated film is characterised by an extremely high artistic quality; a quality which has made it so successful at festivals, both at home and abroad. A unique compendium of contemporary animated culture.

The History of German Animated Film III

Between state art and underground – Animation in the GDR