During the Masterclass Helke Misselwitz will take us on a journey through her filmmaking from short films over documentaries to fiction. There will be a special focus on her years working within the system of East Germany. Our special guest, writer and film historian Claus Löser will introduce us to the working methods of DEFA, the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic, which produced Misselwitz’s films up to the collapse of the GDR. We are going to present a couple of Misselwitz’s KINOBOX productions, short films that were screened before features and provided a fruitful ground for the filmmaker to develop her own, nonconformist approach to filmmaking and being a woman worker in the socialist system. As an example for her documentary practice, the DEFA produced documentary Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann will be screened. Misselwitz is going to talk about her way of approaching people and politics. How to combine empathy with a critical consciousness? Another focus will be placed on her frequent collaborators and how they shaped her filmmaking. One of them is the great photographer Helga Paris about whom Misselwitz directed a short portray which we will also screen. The art of the portray and how it shapes her filmmaking will be discussed. Finally, we will move to making fiction films and discuss how filmmaking has changed when working as a freelancer after the unification of Germany. Concluding the day Misselwitz’s first feature film, Herzsprung, is going to be screened.

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Participation in the event is free of charge.​

Apply at: https://forms.gle/RSVm9325dTPyrkdR6

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Programme

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10:00 — conversation part I (introduction, beginnings of filmmaking, education)

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11:00 — Who's Afraid of the Bogeyman (Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann, 1989, 52')

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12:00 — conversation part II (documentary form)

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13:00 — lunch break

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14:00 — conversation part III  Our special guest, writer and film historian Claus Löser will introduce us to the working methods of DEFA, the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic, which produced Misselwitz’s films up to the collapse of the GDR.

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DEFA KINOBOX 1988/61: Marx-Familie, 7’

DEFA KINOBOX 1985/39: 35 Fotos – Familienalbum einer jungen Frau, 7’

Aktfotografie - z.B. Gundula Schulze, 1983, 11'

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15:30 — Helga Paris, Photographer (Helga Paris, Fotografin, 2019, 31’)

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16:00 — conversation part IV (fiction film)

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16:30 — Herzsprung (Herzsprung, 1992, 84')