A fresh look at German cinema in the Weimar Republic era (1919-1933) - World Socialist Web Site
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A fresh look at German cinema in the Weimar Republic era (1919-1933)
By Bernd Reinhardt
3 April 2018
This is the seventh in a series of articles on the recent Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale, held February 15-25, 2018. The first part was posted March 14, the second on March 16, the third on March 20, the fourth on March 22, the fifth on March 26 and the sixth on March 29.
Only fragments remain of the rich cinematic heritage of Germany’s Weimar Republic era. Approximately 90 percent of the films produced in Germany between 1919 and 1933 are considered lost.
The retrospective at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, “Weimar Cinema Revisited,” presented films that have been forgotten for decades, along with their directors. The approximately 30 films on show, divided thematically into “exotic,” “quotidian” and “history,” have been extensively and lovingly restored in a process involving international cooperation. The films demonstrate the complexity and diversity of cinema during the Weimar Republic—works both modern and full of contradictions, with progress and regression closely bound up with one another.
