Carnegie Mellon University
March 05, 2009

The Eleventh Plenum and Film Controversy in East Germany

The Eleventh Plenum and Film Controversy in East Germany

Stephen Brockmann, Professor of German
Department of Modern Languages
Carnegie Mellon

In 1965 the German Democratic Republic experienced one of its most important and far-reaching cultural controversies when the Socialist Unity Party (East Germany’s ruling party) came together to discuss economic and cultural issues. Controversy arose over a number of recent films, as well as works of literature, and in the end virtually a whole year's worth of films were banned and did not see the light of day until after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989-1990. This talk will explore the reasons for the controversy, the various positions taken, and the role of art in the society of the socialist German state.

Thursday, March 5, 2009, 12:00 Noon, Baker Hall 154R

Presented by the Public Art Cluster of the Center for the Arts in Society