DEFA: Wurzeln

Between the Covers

During a salesmen meeting, the General Manager of the company asks his staff to share erotic and funny incidents during their door-to-door sales promotions.

Max Hölz – Der rote Rebell

Documentary about German communist Max Hoelz (1889-1933).

Ghost Train

Darya Khrenova — a documentalist and the granddaughter of Ilya Trauberg, a successful apprentice of the great Sergey Eisenstein — is trying to solve the mystery of her grandfather’s death at DEFA studio, which he headed after WWII. During the process of the investigation she finds her family, gains more confidence, and takes up a challenge from her grandfather by directing feature films.

Yell Once a Week

The film’s title is taken from a song, used here as a leitmotif, written by Günter Jordan and the East German rock group Pankow. This sensitive report about rebellious teenagers in Berlin’s “wild East” was banned before its first screening.

Matrosen in Berlin

The documentary tells the story of the Volksmarinedivision, which was formed by revolting sailors stationed in Berlin during the November Revolution. Starting with the November Revolution itself and the founding of the Volksmarinedivision, the main focus is on the political developments surrounding it and its involvement in the battles for the Berlin City Palace at Christmas 1918 and the unrest in January and March 1919, during which the Volksmarinedivision was smashed by the Freikorps and its members persecuted. Due to its proximity to the Spartacus League and the KPD, which had just been founded at the time, the Volksmarinedivision was an important point of reference for GDR historical politics and the patron saint of the GDR's Volksmarine.