Head office film

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The main film administration (HV Film) at the Ministry of Culture (MfK) was the central facility for the entire film system in the GDR . She controlled and organized all matters from film production to presentation. This should ensure the implementation of the uniform SED culture policy in the film sector.

history

With the formation of the MfK in 1954, the subordinate HV Film was created, which was responsible for the GDR's film and theater system. From 1958 to 1962, the management responsibility was temporarily transferred to the Vereinigung Volkseigener Betriebe (VVB) Film. At that time, a VB Film was responsible for the cinema and film production. A department in the MfK was responsible for film approval. From 1962 the de jure newly founded HV Film was again responsible for the entire film sector. The director from 1964 to 1966 Günter Witt and the two directors from 1974 Johannes Starke and Horst Pehnert were also deputy ministers for culture. In the course of the Peaceful Revolution and the state reforms from 1989 onwards, HV Film quickly lost its control and instruction function. The compulsory admission was ended in October 1989 when the Association of Film and TV Makers wanted to view and re-screen forbidden films such as Trace of the Stones. On March 15, 1990, shortly before the last Volkskammer election , the government of the GDR ordered the dissolution of HV Film. At the same time, a “Film and Video Department” was set up in the MfK that had nothing to do with the HV Film. The formerly subordinate institutions became officially independent.

Cultural policy guidance and control

HV Film played an important role in forwarding the uniform cultural policy from the SED leadership and the GDR government to the filmmakers and cinema supervisors in the districts. The simultaneous position of Head and Deputy Minister for Culture is an expression of the close ties to the MfK. The head was personally responsible for the cultural-political guidance and passed this on to the department heads and studio heads. This pyramid-like hierarchy was based on the principle of democratic centralism typical of the GDR , which also supported the political system until 1989. At the same time, the implementation of the socialist cultural policy was always monitored by the responsible SED management, especially the film production. Film approval and control took up the largest area of ​​responsibility. All film productions in the GDR as well as all films from socialist and other foreign countries required approval from the HV. The severity of the film censorship , however, depended on the general political and economic situation in the GDR, but also on the balancing act of the HV head. During the entire period he was a link, sometimes also a mediator, between the SED's cultural policy and the filmmakers' ideas. Especially since he also accompanied the development of the material. But he had the final say in approving films. Because of this responsibility, Günter Witt, for example, had to leave his position in the course of the clear cut plenum in 1965.

organization

The internal structure with main departments or departments changed several times up to 1990 due to different cultural and political influences. The most important departments were called artistic production, film admission, cinematography, cultural and political work with film, film economics and film technology. Some central institutions were directly subordinated to the HV, e.g. B. the DEFA studios, the PROGRESS film distribution and the State Film Archive . Even companies for film theater technology and copy factories were part of it.

Head of HV Film

  • Anton Ackermann (1954-1958)
  • Ernst Hoffmann (1962–1963)
  • Günter Witt (1/1964 - 1 (3) / 1966)
  • Wilfried Maaß (1 (3) / 1966 - 12/1966)
  • Siegfried Wagner (12/1966 - 2/1969)
  • Gert Springfeld (offic. 1969 / 1971–1972)
  • Günter Klein (1973 - 6/1974)
  • Johannes Starke (6/1974 - 11/1976)
  • Horst Pehnert (12/1976 - 3/1990)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.defa.de/cms/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=1178 . Last accessed on June 17, 2013.
  2. ↑ See Legal Gazette of the German Democratic Republic III No. 19/1962, p. 218.
  3. ↑ See http://www.defa.de/cms/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=1178 . Last accessed on June 17, 2013.
  4. ^ Glaß, Peter: Cinema is more than film. The years 1976–1990. Berlin, 1999, p. 263.
  5. ↑ Cf. A few more thoughts on the discussion about the restructuring of the film system in the GDR from January 26, 1990, in: BArch, DR1, No. 4887, o. S .; Glaß, pp. 271ff .; Pehnert, Horst: Cinema, Artists and Conflicts. Film production and film policy in the GDR. Berlin, 2009, p. 217.
  6. ↑ See resolution [of the Council of Ministers] on measures for the development and effective management of the film system in the GDR of August 9, 1973, p. 1; Bernd-Rainer Barth: Pehnert, Horst, in: Helmut Müller-Enbergs et al. (Ed.): Who was who in the GDR? A lexicon of East German biographies. Volume 2: MZ. Berlin, 2010, pp. 990f .; Pehnert, 2009. pp. 26ff.
  7. ↑ See resolution [of the Council of Ministers] on the formation of a main film administration of the Ministry of Culture of June 14, 1962, p. 3, p. 6.
  8. ↑ See Pehnert, Horst: Kino, Künstler und Konflicts. Film production and film policy in the GDR. Berlin, 2009.
  9. ↑ Herbst / Ranke / Winkler: This is how the GDR worked, Volume 1: Lexicon of Organizations and Institutions, Departmental Union Management (AGL), League for Friendship between Nations. Reinbek, 1994, p. 179.
  10. ↑ WRITERS: Base of the pot . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 1966 ( online - Feb. 21, 1966 ).
  11. ↑ http://www.defa.de/cms/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=1178 . Last accessed on June 17, 2013.
  12. ↑ ibid.