Series
Volume 21
Film Europa
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Cinema of Collaboration
DEFA Coproductions and International Exchange in Cold War Europe
Mariana Ivanova
292 pages, 22 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-78920-343-1 $135.00/£99.00 / Hb / Published (October 2019)
ISBN 978-1-80073-208-7 $34.95/£27.95 / Pb / Published (January 2022)
eISBN 978-1-78920-344-8 eBook
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 WILLY HAAS BOOK AWARD
Reviews
“Ivanova demonstrates [in this refreshing volume] that in the 20th century there was a common language of European film, a language that transcended ideology and the Cold War… Highly Recommended.” • Choice
“Mariana Ivanova's book is being published at a time when the history of producers and cinematic exchange is increasingly coming into the focus of research in different subjects and countries... [Her] study can also give important impulses to current research in this extended context; its reading is therefore highly recommended.” • Filmblatt
“Cinema of Collaboration marks a crucial moment in English-language scholarship on East German cinema. Mariana Ivanova’s study opens up a nuanced and multi-layered engagement with DEFA films beyond the cultural sphere.” • Sebastian Heiduschke, Oregon State University
“This is a very well-written and thoroughly researched study that offers interesting new insights into the transnational connections of producers and artists. In its transnational perspective, the book outlines new trajectories of cultural politics that will change how scholars think, write, and teach about DEFA.” • Maria Stehle, University of Tennessee
Description
From their very inception, European cinemas undertook collaborative ventures in an attempt to cultivate a transnational “Film-Europe.” In the postwar era, it was DEFA, the state cinema of East Germany, that emerged as a key site for cooperative practices. Despite the significant challenges that the Cold War created for collaboration, DEFA sought international prestige through various initiatives. These ranged from film exchange in occupied Germany to partnerships with Western producers, and from coproductions with Eastern European studios to strategies for film co-authorship. Uniquely positioned between East and West, DEFA proved a crucial mediator among European cinemas during a period of profound political division.
Mariana Ivanova is Associate Professor of German Film and University of Massachusetts Amherst and Academic Director of the DEFA Film Library. She is co-editor of the book series Film and the Cold War with Berghahn Books. In addition to her scholarly publications, she is also the creator of several short documentaries about former DEFA filmmakers
Subject: Film and Television StudiesHistory: 20th Century to Present
Area: Germany
Contents
Download ToC (PDF)