05/20/2026
SYMPOSIUM: “DEFA LITERARY ADAPTATIONS” IN GERMANY
From May 21–22, international experts on East German cinema will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the East German DEFA Studio’s foundation. The symposium will discuss the significant role of literary adaptations in the DEFA oeuvre and these productions’ changing focus during the four decades of the film studio’s existence.
Mariana Ivanova, our Academic Director, will participate in the 2-day symposium in Halle, Germany, and give a talk titled, “The DEFA Film Library Presents: DEFA Literary Adaptations at Museums and Universities in the USA.” She will also participate in a panel discussion on “Preservation of DEFA Film Heritage” sharing the stage with Seán Allan (St Andrews University, UK), Michael Wedel (Film University KONRAD WOLF, Germany), and Stefanie Eckert (Head of the DEFA Foundation, Germany).
Mariana shared with us: “Literary adaptations on screen were crucial in recognizing DEFA as a cinema of prestige and avant-garde innovation in the US and worldwide. While works by Bertolt Brecht, Günter Kunert, Christa Wolf, Heiner Müller, Stefan Heym, and other East German authors were taught at US universities since the 1960s, it was only through the DEFA Film Library that students, cineastes, and researchers became aware of award-winning film adaptations, such as The Divided Heaven, Jacob the Liar, or Mother Courage and Her Children. I am excited to share with the symposium participants DEFA Film Library’s groundbreaking work in highlighting these adaptations at colleges and summer film institutes, as well as film festivals and retrospectives at MoMA in New York, the Wende-Museum in Los Angeles, the Coolidge Corner Theater in Boston and Amherst Cinema, among others.”
The symposium was organized by Paul Werner Wagner (freelance curator, Berlin) and Stephan Pabst (Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg).
