The DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst was set up by Barton Byg, professor of film and German Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His idea was to make films from the East German DEFA Studios more available and known in North America and to broaden popular and scholarly understanding of filmmaking in the GDR by critically exploring its aesthetic, political and ideological bases. The signing of a UMass memorandum on September 23, 1993 marks the DEFA Film Library’s official founding.

Since then, their activities have grown a great deal! Meanwhile, in addition to making East German films available in different formats, they have continued to build their research profile, hosting international conferences and Summer Film Institutes and inviting DEFA filmmakers to tour educational and cultural institutions with their films. Their work has contributed to a significant expansion of English-language scholarship on DEFA cinema and the development of a vibrant international network of researchers and teachers.

Congratulation!

To celebrate this occasion, we are playing the following films in 2018:

COMING OUT in our monthly movie series on June 13, 2018

HOT SUMMER at KINOFEST Seattle 2018