“Documenting Socialism”: New Volume on East German Documentary Cinema

GSSN is pleased to announce the publication of Documenting Socialism: East German Documentary Cinema (July 2024), the first comprehensive English-speaking volume on the history of East German documentary filmmaking edited by Seán Allan and Sebastian Heiduschke. The GSSN supported the realisation of the volume through the workshop ‘Documenting Socialism’ at the University of St Andrews in May 2022.

Written by 16 leading experts, this book shifts the focus from the commonly studied DEFA feature film production to highlight East German documentary cinema as a central part of film history behind the Iron Curtain. Addressing issues of gender, race and sexuality as well as the complex dynamics of diversity within the political and cultural context of socialism, the essays in this volume provide a fundamental introduction to documentary film production in the GDR.

In the words of the editors, their “aim is to provide a sociohistorical context for a broader understanding of the production of nonfictional film in the GDR, to highlight some of the major players, to remind readers of the vital contributions made by those working on the margins of DEFA and to offer a range of different theoretical approaches in the hope that this volume will inspire others to explore this rich – but largely undiscovered – body of work.” (Seán Allan and Sebastian Heiduschke, Documenting Socialism, 3)

The book was published by Berghahn Books and can be purchased here. The volume includes chapters by Helen Hughes, Martin Brady, Elizabeth Ward, Tom Smith, Stephan Ehrig, Matthew Bauman, Thomas Maulucci, Reinhild Steingröver, Priscilla Layne, Nick Hodgin, Jennifer L. Creech, Andy Räder, Kyle Frackman and Jason Doerre.

Seán Allan is Professor of German at the University of St Andrews and holds a Joint Research Professorship in Neuere Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft at the University of Bonn. His publications include Screening Art: Modernism and the Socialist Imaginary in East German Cinema (Berghahn Books, 2019), and Inspiration Bonaparte: German Culture under Napoleonic Occupation (Camden House, 2021).

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 (Springer, 2013 in English, 2019 in a Japanese edition) as well as essays in Camera ObscuraFeminist German StudiesGerman Studies ReviewMonatshefte, and various edited collections.

Documenting Socialism is the second successful collaboration of Seán Allan, Sebastian Heiduschke and Berghahn books. Their volume Re-Imagining DEFA: East German Cinema in its National and Transnational Contexts was published by Berghahn Books in 2016.

Leave a comment