DEFA - Foundation

• The singing, ringing tree game
• Die DEFA-Märchenfilme (DEFA fairytale movies)
• Gesichter der DEFA (DEFA faces)
• Rauschende Melodien - Musik aus DEFA-Filmklassikern (Music of DEFA classics)
• Fernes Land - Die DDR, die DEFA und der Ruf des Chimborazo
• Szenen eines Landes - Die DDR und ihre Filme
• Spur der Filme - Zeitzeugen über die DEFA
• Filmographie der Produktionsgruppe "Stacheltier" (Filmography of the production group "Stacheltier")
• Filmographie: Ausländische Spiel- und abendfüllende Dokumentarfilme in den Kinos der SBZ/ DDR 1945 - 1966 (Filmography: Foreign fiction and full-length documentary films in the theaters of the SBZ/ GDR 1945 – 1966)
• Der geteilte Himmel. Höhepunkte des DEFA-Kinos 1946 - 1992 (The Divided Sky. Highlights of the DEFA Cinema 1946 – 1992)
• Die Trick-Fabrik. DEFA-Animationsfilme 1955 - 1990 (The trick factory. DEFA animated movies 1955 - 1990)

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The singing, ringing tree game

© DEFA-Foundation/ Christel Bodenstein
Published by DEFA-Foundation
Idea: Christel Bodenstein
including: Memo-Spiel "Merk dir das gut", Theaterspiel "Spiel mit mir", 36 cards, 18 little feet, 10 panels, 1 DVD and a booklet
15 € available at defa-spektrum
1 € goes to the restoration and digitalization of the DEFA fairytale films

Christel Bodenstein, the beloved princess from the famous DEFA fairy tale film "The singing, ringing tree" has created a game with the charakters of the film.

The first game „Merk dir das gut“ is a memory game with 36 cards. On each card is either the front or back of one of the film’s 18 clay characters, made by Christel Bodenstein. The goal of the game is to match the pairs until all of the characters are fully assembled.

Once the pairs are together, the fairytale can continue with the game, “Spiel mit mir.” The game box turns into a stage with 20 beautifully painted backgrounds on which the characters can play. Kids will not only improve their memory, but expand their imagination!

The game also comes with a DVD of the film, “The Singing, Ringing Tree,” as well as a booklet that retells the enchanting story.

The DEFA fairytale movies
Die DEFA-Märchenfilme 

© DEFA-Stiftung und Zweitausendeins
published by the DEFA-Foundation
Design and production: Pina Lewandowsky
edited by Franziska Münz
288 pages, 800 images (partly coloured)
29,90 Euro, available at Zweitausendeins Versand-Dienst GmbH and at defa-spektrum

Have you ever wanted to know how many socks the actors of the movie "Das kalte Herz" needed? Or how the little Muck run so fast through the desert? The DEFA-Foundation presents an illustrated book about the DEFA fairytale movies.

Over 800 images, including scene and set photos, as well as posters will remind the reader to these cinema events. The photos are supplemented by anecdotes about the shooting and background information about the movies.

Benita Blessing, the first Faculty Research Fellow of the DEFA Film Library and Research Associate at the Five College Women's Studies Research Center, shared her thoughts with us about Die Märchenfilme, published by the DEFA-Stiftung and Zweitausendeins. She is currently finishing her second book, Princes and Princesses under Socialism: East German Children's Films, 1946-1990.

"Fairy tale fans the world over will delight in this handsome new collection of DEFA's beautiful Märchenfilme. Vividly rendered posters of each DEFA fairy-tale film accompany summaries and highlights of the films, inviting us into a world of magic, mystery and imagination. The volume itself, reminiscent of fairy tale books with its large format and whimsical script, opens a window to the ways in which societies tell and re-tell stories of good and evil, right and wrong, and promises of happy endings. Die Märchenfilme represents an important contribution to the scholarship on DEFA, its children's films, art and media, and cinema history. Undergraduates to advanced researchers will find a treasure trove of information here, making it a necessary addition to any library. Perhaps more important, anyone who has ever seen or hoped to see the beloved fairy tale films of East Germany will see characters and images jump off the page, waiting for us to help them back to their homes on the cinema screen - a happy ending indeed." 

Review
Dr. Benita Blessing, the first Faculty Research Fellow of the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as well as Lecturer in the Department of History, and Research Associate at the Five Colleges Women's Studies Researche Center, shared her thoughts with us about Die Märchenfilme, published by the DEFA-Stiftung and Zweitausendeins. She is currently finishing her second book, Princes and Princesses under Socialism: East German Children's Films, 1946-1990.

"Fairy tale fans the world over will delight in this handsome new collection of DEFA's beautiful Märchenfilme. Vividly rendered posters of each DEFA fairy-tale film accompany summaries and highlights of the films, inviting us into a world of magic, mystery and imagination. The volume itself, reminiscent of fairy tale books with its large format and whimsical script, opens a window to the ways in which societies tell and re-tell stories of good and evil, right and wrong, and promises of happy endings. Die Märchenfilme represents an important contribution to the scholarship on DEFA, its children's films, art and media, and cinema history. Undergraduates to advanced researchers will find a treasure trove of information here, making it a necessary addition to any library. Perhaps more important, anyone who has ever seen or hoped to see the beloved fairy tale films of East Germany will see characters and images jump off the page, waiting for us to help them back to their homes on the cinema screen - a happy ending indeed."

Edition Braus
Texts: Reinhild Steingröver, Sherin Najjar u. a.
208 pages, 500 images
ISBN 978-3-89904-331-0
39.90 €, available at Edition Braus

Since 2004 portraits the photographer Sandra Bergemann actors and actresses in her exhibition " Faces of DEFA" .
The illustrated book "Gesichter der DEFA" allows furthermore insights in the life and the work of 40 actors and actresses.
You can find set photos and short biographies and interviews about personal experiences.

Actors/Actresses in the book:
Doris Abeßer, Carmen-Maja Antoni, Hermann Beyer, Christel Bodenstein, Annekathrin Bürger, Angelica Domröse, Eberhard Esche, Erwin Geschonneck, Winfried Glatzeder, Helga Göring, Jörg Gudzuhn, Michael Gwisdek, Eva-Maria Hagen, Jutta Hoffmann, Rolf Hoppe, Ursula Karusseit, Uwe Kockisch, Herbert Köfer, Renate Krößner, Dieter Mann, Dagmar Manzel, Gojko Mitic, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Alfred Müller, Peter Reusse, Katrin Sass, Walfriede Schmitt, Barbara Schnitzler, Christine Schorn, Horst Schulze, Jörg Schüttauf, Jaecki Schwarz, Ernst-Georg Schwill, Peter Sodann, Hilmar Thate, Klaus-Peter Thiele, Marion van de Kamp, Jutta Wachowiak, Ursula Werner, Wolfgang Winkler

Rauschende Melodien - Musik aus DEFA-Filmklassikern
Music of DEFA classics

15,00 €, available at the 
defa spektrum GmbH  or on the market.

As a homage to four decades of the history of DEFA music the DEFA-Foundation and the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg produced a sweeping CD with melodies of DEFA films.

You can find vocal and intrumental compositions. The concert and opera singer Friederike Meinel has sung these songs.The conductors were the musical director Manfred Rosenberg and Bernd Wefelmeyer. The composer and jazz pianist Günther Fischer has played saxophon and piano.

The most famous composers of the DEFA are presented. But the choosen songs are only a small part of the soundtrack repertoire of the DEFA films.

The following tracks are included on the cd:

"Fernes Land – Die DDR, die DEFA und der Ruf des Chimborazo“

Rainer Simon
342 pages
8,95 €, Aufbau-Verlag
ISBN: 3-7466-2156-9



In his auto-biographical book Rainer Simon reports on the work as a film-maker and about his fascination for South America and the experiences, he has made there .

www.aufbauverlag.de

„Szenen eines Landes – Die DDR und ihre Filme“

Wolfgang Gersch
240 pages
22,90 €, Aufbau-Verlag
ISBN: 3-351-02627-7


This very subjective film history of the GDR by Wolfgang Gersch attempts to give help to understand the historical coherences of making DEFA films.

www.aufbauverlag.de

„Spur der Filme - Zeitzeugen über die DEFA“

Ingrid Poss,  Peter Warnecke
568 pages
24,90 €, Christoph Links Verlag
ISBN: 3-86153-401-0


More than 40 directors, actors, producers, costume designers and dramatic advisors talk about the conditions of the making of approx. 100 films. More than 400 hours of interviews made by the DEFA Foundation, the Filmmuseum Potsdam and Zeitzeugen-TV provide an insight in hopes, disappointments, problems and comfort that accompanied the production process between political expectations and artistic claim.

www.linksverlag.de

Filmography of the production group „Stacheltier“
(Filmografie der Produktionsgruppe „Stacheltier“)

Compilation: Günter Schulz.
Edited by Federal Archive and DEFA Foundation
270 pages, Berlin 2000
ISBN-Nr. 3-00-006318-8
€ 10,00

Satirical short films were produced by the DEFA studios under the title of „Stacheltier” from 1953 to 1964. The 31st volume of the DEFA filmography contains a historical overview of the Stacheltier production, a complete list of titles with information on film staff, actors, technical dates and content.

Filmography: Foreign fiction and full-length documentary films in the theaters of the SBZ/ GDR 1945 – 1966
(Filmografie: Ausländische Spiel- und abendfüllende Dokumentarfilme in den Kinos der SBZ/ DDR 1945-1966)

Compilation: Günter Schulz.
Edited by Federal Archive and DEFA Foundation
426 pages, Berlin 2001
€ 15,00

The filmography offers following data: German title, original title, country of production, production company, year of production, direction, distribution, synchronisation company, performing date.

This publication completes the filmographic proof of the film production and theatres in the GDR.

The Divided Sky. Highlights of the DEFA Cinema 1946 – 1992
(Der geteilte Himmel. Höhepunkte des DEFA-Kinos 1946 – 1992)

Edited by Film Archive Austria to reflect a retrospective of DEFA-Films, a corporation between Film Archive Austria, Federal Archive and DEFA Foundation

Volume 1: Films of the Retrospective. Editor Helmut Pflügl
459 pages, numerous photos, Wien 2001

Summaries, notes on staff, assessment of films of the retrospective

Volume 2: Essays on the history of the DEFA; filmographies of 61 DEFA-directors.
Editor: Raimund Fritz. 295 pages, photos, Wien 2001

Articles

• on topics and genres of the work of the DEFA
• on the synchronisation of foreign films
• on the cinemas
• facts about and dates on the DEFA

25,00 EUR for both volumes (the purchase of a single volume is not possible)

Die Trick-Fabrik
DEFA-Animationsfilme 1955-1990

Edited by the German Istitute of Animated Film (DIAF) Dresden in cooperation with the DEFA-Foundation compilation: Ralf Schenk, Sabine Scholze 544 pages, 500 images. ISBN: 978-3-929470-27-7 (3-929470-27-6) 49,90 € available at defa-spektrum GmbH or at the bertz verlag

»Die Trick-Fabrik« tells the history of the DEFA-studios of animated film in Dresden. Between 1955 and 1990 750 films for the cinema and many television films for have been produced.

The authors describe contents and forms, political influences, international relations, censorship and the end of the studios in 1990. There is also a chapter about the history of the studios before 1954. 
Furthermore the book contains a list of all 750 animated films of the DEFA with a short synopsis. 

The authors are: Gerd Gockell, André Eckardt, Jörg Herrmann, Claus Löser, Hedda Gehm, Sieglinde Hamacher, Marion Rasche, Joachim Giera, Volker Petzold, Klaus-Dieter Felsmann, Simone Tippach-Schneider, Sabine Scholze et al.