The Case of H. and Eight Others

A two-part East German documentary tracing Russia’s transformation from the Tsarist Empire to the Soviet Union, from the 1917 October Revolution to the achievements of the space program. Directed by Andrew Thorndike and Annelie Thorndike, the film assembles extensive archival footage to chart political upheaval, ideological consolidation, and technological ambition in twentieth-century Russia. Produced by DEFA and first broadcast on East German television in 1963.

Documentary reports on night workers in the German Democratic Republic in the fall of 1973. The camera provides insights into the difficult and often bleak work during the night hours. Examples of work in a large bakery, in a police call center, in a railroad signal box, in a steel and coking plant and finally in a power station show that the city must continue to live at night. Apart from two short commentaries at the beginning and end of the documentary and a few musical sounds, the atmosphere of the workplace captured in each case is only rarely underpinned with speech.