Anthology Film Archives

Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives

KONRAD WOLF CENTENNIAL

January 30 – February 8

January 30-February 8, 2026

This retrospective – the first-ever complete survey of his work in North America – marks the centennial of East German filmmaker Konrad Wolf, a director whose career represents a fascinating and crucial bridge between prewar German cinema and the New German Cinema movement that would emerge beginning in the mid-1960s.

“The son of the acclaimed playwright Friedrich Wolf, Konrad Wolf was born on October 20, 1925. Due to their Jewish and communist background, his family fled [via Switzerland and France] to the Soviet Union to avoid persecution after the Nazis came to power. A committed anti-Fascist, Wolf joined the Red Army at the age of 17 and was amongst the Soviet soldiers who entered Berlin following Hitler’s defeat in 1945. After the war, he studied filmmaking at the famous VGIK (Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, previously known as the Moscow Film School) which trained filmmakers from almost every continent on the globe. In the 1950s, Wolf decided to settle in the GDR, where his anti-Fascist background gave him an artistic freedom not enjoyed by many other filmmakers or artists. He became chair of the Artists Union and a member of the Central Committee of the SED (Socialist Unity Party), and was president of the Academy of the Arts from 1965 until his death in 1982. The recognition of his work at film festivals across the world made him into a significant cultural ambassador for the GDR. This granted him a privileged position, but one that did not prevent him from making films that addressed complex and uncomfortable questions. His films explore memories of the Nazi past and Jewish persecutions, the role of artists in society and their obligation to speak out against authoritarianism, the everyday challenges of life in the GDR, the missed opportunities for a democratic socialism, and the consequences of one’s individual choices in periods of historical, social, and political turmoil.

“What stands out in Wolf’s oeuvre is his brilliant capacity to merge modernist and realist cinematic traditions. Even though official East German cultural policy pushed a doctrine of socialist realism, Wolf’s films departed from this rigid tradition to bring together diverse influences from the Soviet avant-garde, Italian neorealism, and the French New Wave. Traveling to film festivals across the globe, Wolf familiarized himself with new post-war European cinemas, their anti-heroic portrayal of history, and their emphasis on the banal aspects of everyday life. While Wolf enjoyed popularity in Europe from the 1950s to the 1970s, his work (unjustly) does not currently occupy such an important place in film history. His films deserve to be rediscovered. They capture the losses and failures of a generation who truly believed in socialism as an alternative to capitalist modernity. His best films invite us to reflect on our social responsibility and our actions as citizens, the need to use memories of a traumatic past to transform the future, and the compatibility of artistic autonomy with the social function of art.” –Angelos Koutsourakis

The series introduction and (unless otherwise noted) the individual film descriptions are by Angelos Koutsourakis, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies at the Centre for World Cinemas and Digital Cultures, University of Leeds, and have been adapted from his article in SENSES OF CINEMA (July 2025).

This retrospective is co-presented with the German Film Office, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut and German Films; the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; and the DEFA Foundation in Berlin.

Special thanks to Sara Stevenson (German Film Office) and Hiltrud Schulz (DEFA Film Library).

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