Merseburg DEFA Film Festival
The Merseburg DEFA Film Festival is a German film festival to maintain the DEFA legacy and also increasingly current film productions from Central Germany . As an initiative to save the former “Völkerfreundschaft” cinema in the center of Merseburg , it has been offering a film spectrum from the DEFA fund every year since 2006 and reflects on the making and shooting in film discussions with the protagonists .
The festival is part of the Merseburg cultural treasure , which has made the city's cultural offerings between Halle and Leipzig more visible since 2017.
Emergence
The Merseburg DEFA Film Days are closely linked to today's Merseburg Cathedral City Cinema. Between 1990 and 2002 the former “Kino Völkerfreundschaft” was empty. Reuse turned out to be difficult. At the same time, Merseburg's city council discussed building a new cinema in the city. Against this background, committed citizens of Merseburg came together on August 14, 2002 to rescue or revitalize the old cinema building and founded the association “Kino Völkerfreundschaft Merseburg eV”. The city council ultimately spoke out in favor of preserving the former cinema. With the help of the association, a sustainable usage concept was created and a commercial operator was found. In the second cultural talk of the city of Merseburg in January 2003, it was agreed in parallel to develop the cinema into a place for a wide range of cultural activities. A collaboration between the association and the Merseburg University of Applied Sciences was already evident here. At the fifth cultural talk on the subject of “cinema as a cultural asset”, the idea of the DEFA film days was finally born. Students of the university and members of the association worked together to implement the idea. From 20. to 23. April 2006 they took place for the first time in what is now the cathedral city cinema. Since then, the film days have firmly established themselves in the city and region's calendar of events. In 2020 they celebrated their 15th anniversary.
development
The film days have taken place every spring since 2006 and are particularly popular in central Germany. From Friday to Sunday, not only will films from the DEFA fund be shown under a changing motto, but film discussions will also be held with the relevant protagonists. A special highlight is always the silent film on Sundays with piano accompaniment. The program also includes an amateur film round, in which filmmakers can present their works to a wider public.
For school classes in the Saalekreis , individual film screenings will be offered immediately before and after the film days, with selected films classified in the historical-political context of their creation and discussed with the students. The association thus provides educational work and keeps DEFA's cultural heritage alive.
A cultural program is being established in the city of Merseburg around the film days. Gastronomy and culture enthusiasts have special exhibitions or special offers around the film festival.
For the 15th anniversary in 2020, the Merseburg DEFA Film Days opened up further thematically. Motto “Film Set Central Germany” - the location of Central Germany on the way from yesterday to today. The program not only includes timeless DEFA classics, but also current films that were shot in central Germany.
Awards
- 2015 Citizen Award "The donkey that goes on roses" of the city of Halle
- 2017 Prize of the DEFA Foundation "Program Prize"
Film selection
The festival covers the spectrum of GDR films. In addition to cinema films of all genres, television productions can also be seen. Current German cinema productions with a thematic reference are also included in the program. The selection of films is made by the members of the “Kino Völkerfreundschaft Merseburg e. V. “Every year guests are invited to the film festival who are directly related to the films shown. Mostly there are actors but also directors or scriptwriters.
1st Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from April 20 to 23, 2006
Motto: "60 Years DEFA - 50 Years Cinema Friendship of Nations"
Opening film: " The Legend of Paul and Paula "
Guests included: Kurt Maetzig , Thomas Knauf , Winfried Glatzeder
2nd Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from April 19-22, 2007
Motto: "Master - Student - Heir"
Opening film: " I was nineteen "
Guests included: Rainer Simon , Thomas Heise , Helke Misselwitz , Günter Reisch , Christiane Mückenberger
3rd Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from January 23rd to 27th, 2008
Motto: "DEFA films in an international context"
Opening film: " Meeting in Travers "
Guests included: Annekatrin Bürger , Michael Gwisdek , Hermann Beyer
4th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from February 11th to 15th, 2009
Motto: "20 years of peaceful revolution"
Opening film: " Nikolaikirche "
Guests were amongst others: Erich Loest , Christian Führer, Petra Weisenburger
5th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from January 20 to 24, 2010
Motto: "Women in EAST and WEST"
Opening film: " The hiding place "
Guests included: Jutta Hoffmann , Ulrike Ottinger , Christine Schorn , Egon Günther ; Marita Böhme
6th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from January 28th to 30th, 2011
Motto: "Rolf Hoppe a DEFA actor"
Opening film: " The Break "
The guests included: Rolf Hoppe , Dorit Gäbler , Gojko Mitic , Hans-Werner Honert , Heinz Kersten
7th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from January 27 to 29, 2012
Motto: "Angelica Domröse and Hilmar Thate - not just a legend"
Opening film: "Fleur Lafontaine"
Guests included: Angelica Domröse , Hilmar Thate , Helmut Morsbach, Knut Elstermann
8th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from January 25th to 27th, 2013
Motto: "Wolfgang Kohlhaase and Andreas Dresen: Two Generations - Two Filmmakers"
Opening film: " Summer in front of the balcony "
Guests included: Wolfgang Kohlhaase , Andreas Dresen , Ernst-Georg Schwill , Sylvester Groth , Jörg Gudzuhn , Laila Stieler
9th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from February 21 to 23, 2014
Motto: "Man oh man, the Dieter Mann"
Opening film: " Luck in the Secret Annex "
Guests included: Dieter Mann , Monika Lennartz , Götz Schubert , Carmen Seehafer , Heidemarie Wenzel
10th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from March 27th to 29th, 2015
Motto: "Women write history (s)"
Opening film: " Good morning, you beautiful "
Guests included: Jutta Wachowiak , Vera Loebner , Iris Gusner , Lissy Tempelhof ; Evelyn Schmidt
11th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from April 1st to 3rd, 2016
Motto: "Ambition - Love - Hope"
Opening film: " A crazy smell of fresh hay "
Guests were among others: Ursula Werner , Peter Reusse , Walfriede Schmitt , Burkhard Klaußner, Otto Mellies
12th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from March 17th to 19th, 2017
Motto: "Mannsbilder"
Opening film: "The dream of the elk"
Guests included: Siegfried Kühn , Christian Steyer , Wolfgang Winkler , Gunter Schoß , Jürgen Zartmann
13th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from March 9th to 11th, 2018
Motto: "Now it's striking 13!"
Opening film: " In times of waning light "
Guests included: Matti Geschonneck , Johanna Schall , Chris Doerk , Annemone Haase , Ralf Schenk
14th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from March 8th to 10th, 2019
Motto: "Book meets canvas"
Opening film: " Transit "
The guests included: Christel Bodenstein , Franziska Troegner , Erwin Berner , Dieter Wien , Renate Blume
15th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival from March 6th to 8th, 2020
Motto: "Central Germany film set"
Opening film: " The Tango Player "
Guests were amongst others: Christoph Hein , Marion Brasch , Renate Geißler , Giso Weißbach , Grit Lemke , Carlos Morelli
School events
School events have been part of the film days in the cathedral city cinema since the first DEFA film days in Merseburg in 2006. The aim was and is to introduce the younger generation to DEFA's film heritage. This applies to both the film content and the film design. Conclusion: The students perceive the films with interest. This can be seen in the film discussions that were held at some of the events.
The school events are organized according to the grade levels. The first group are the primary school students. Schools from the city of Merseburg and from the entire Saale district register for the events. In line with the theme of the Film Days, the Friends' Association suggests appropriate children's or fairy tale films. The schools then make the specific film selection. Films such as: " The fat Tilla ", " Moritz in the advertising column ", "The search for the wonderfully colorful bird", "The brave truant" were very well received by the young audience . They reflect the everyday life of the children, so that there are corresponding points of contact with today. Fairy tale films are also welcome. For the 15th Merseburg DEFA Film Festival, the Friends' Association included films that were shot in Central Germany in particular. Examples are: “ Snow white and rose red ”, “ The story of the goose princess and her faithful horse Fallada ” or “ The golden goose ”.
In the second group, the pupils of the secondary level, high schools and vocational schools are summarized. Here, the association only succeeds in a few cases in arousing the interest of the teachers. There is encouragement if there is a connection to the school material.
Merseburg's cultural treasure
Merseburg has a rich historical legacy with a supraregional appeal. In addition, the city has a very lively club life. In 2017, cultural workers from Merseburg joined forces under the umbrella brand “Kulturschatz Merseburg”. The aim of the initiative is to make the company's own offers visible to a wider public. Thanks to mutual networking and support, synergy effects should also be used and cultural life enriched. The invitation initiative is followed by a growing number of associations and institutions in the city. The association “Kino Völkerfreundschaft Merseburg e. V. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Overview. Retrieved April 15, 2020 .
- ^ Cathedral city cinema Merseburg Saale. Retrieved April 15, 2020 .
- ^ Saalekreis courier. April 25, 2015, accessed April 15, 2020 .
- ↑ DEFA Foundation - Awards - Award Ceremony 2017. Accessed April 15, 2020 .