Evelyn Carow

Evelyn Carow (born December 17, 1931 in Berlin ) is a German film editor . She was one of the most important cutting masters in the GDR . Her best-known films include Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser… (1957), I Was Nineteen (1968), The Legend of Paul and Paula (1973), and Solo Sunny (1980).

Life

Evelyn Carow was already artistically inclined in her childhood. She sang in the children's choir and played theater. She became enthusiastic about film at an early age and began an apprenticeship in a copy factory in 1949. After her professional training and a short-term job in 1952 in color light determination, she was hired as an assistant editor by the DEFA studio in Babelsberg . Her first projects were silent educational films for industry. From September 1952 she was assigned to the studio for popular science films, educational film department. It was here that she met her future husband, the director Heiner Carow . The wedding took place in 1954.

After the studio for popular science films merged with the educational film division, Carow became an assistant to the editor Putty E. Krafft . As the youngest employee of the studio, she was particularly encouraged and successfully passed the editing exam in December 1953. She continued to work on popular science films until 1956. In the summer of Carow joined the DEFA Studio for Feature Films, today's Studio Babelsberg after the director Gerhard Klein by its effect rich documentary Catching noticed her.

Her first work in the feature film sector was the editing of Klein's famous Berlin film Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser… (1957). Carow also worked with Klein several times later. Carow began working closely with the directors early on in the project process, as she saw their work as part of teamwork. She always saw herself as an equal partner on an equal footing. In the course of time Carow worked with a large number of the most important DEFA directors. In addition to Klein, the collaborations with Konrad Wolf , Frank Beyer and her husband Heiner Carow, whose only editor she was, deserve special mention .

Carow edited many of the most important DEFA films, not a few of which also came into conflict with the government of the GDR. She had to completely re-cut the film The Russians Come a second time after it was banned shortly before its premiere in 1968. In 1987 the new version finally made it to the GDR cinemas.

With the end of DEFA after the political change came the end of Evelyn Carow's career. She is considered one of, if not the most important film editor in the history of DEFA. In total, she edited over 50 DEFA films. In the Filmmuseum Potsdam photos, production documents, correspondence, mixed plans, prices and work items from the years 1971–1991 of her career are archived.

Evelyn Carow lives secluded in the family home in the villa colony of Neubabelsberg , Potsdam .

Awards

1980: National Film Prize (Best Editing) for Solo Sunny , Sabine Wulff and Until Death Do You Part at the GDR National Feature Film Festival
1985: Heinrich Greif Prize for her artistic achievements
1988: National Film Award (Best Editing) for The Russians at the GDR National Feature Film Festival
2005: Honorary award at Filmplus , forum for film editing and montage art for her life's work