Documenting Socialism: East German Documentary Film

More than 30 years after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic, its cinema continues to attract scholarly attention. Documenting Socialism moves beyond the traditionally analyzed ＂feature film production＂ and places East Germany’s documentary cinema at the center of history behind the Iron Curtain. Covering questions of gender, race and sexuality and the complexities of diversity under the political and cultural environments of socialism, the specialist contributions in this volume cohere into an introductory milestone on documentary film production in the GDR.

Sebastian Heiduschke is Professor of World Languages and Cultures at Oregon State University. His film publications include the books East German Cinema: DEFA and Film History (2013 in English, 2019 in a Japanese edition), Re-imagining DEFA: East German Cinema in its National and Transnational Context (co-edited with Seán Allan, 2016), as well as essays in Camera Obscura, Feminist German Studies, German Studies Review, Monatshefte, and various edited collections.