History
- 1912 to 1932.
- 1933 to 1945.
- 1946 to 1990.
- 1990 to 2004.
- 2004 to present.
"This film was really an exception. It was, we were all there sharing a part in pushing this film together. And I would really love to go back to Germany and work again."
Kate Winslet, Actress, “The Reader”
History
1946 to 1990
After the end of World War 2, the studio is immediately put back to work. On May 4, 1946, filming begins for Wolfgang Staudte’s The Murderers Are Among Us starring Hildegard Knef and Ernst Wilhelm Bochert.
On May 17th 1946, the studio is re-incorporated as a German-Sovjet joint venture “DEFA” – Deutsche Film AG. From 1946 to 1990, DEFA produces 1,240 feature and television pictures of various artistic and political color. In 1975, Jakob der Lügner (Jacob the Liar) became the only GDR film production to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.
Internationally, the skillful artistry and production work at DEFA goes for the most part unrecognized until the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) decides to create an exhibition around the subject of the great contribution to modern cinema made by DEFA, in the Fall of 2005.