DEFA is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. Since 1946, the East German state film studio has been a place where propaganda was produced and control and censorship were the order of the day—yet at the same time, it was home to great artists who repeatedly fought to carve out creative freedom. We’re celebrating the legacy of these directors where it belongs: at the newly renovated Kino International on Karl-Marx-Allee, the former DEFA premiere theater—now featuring Christie laser projection, 4K, and Dolby 7.1. 

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Over eight Sundays, we’ll be screening outstanding works that have lost none of their power to this day—in the original German version with English subtitles.

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The summer when Rita and Manfred drift apart. He goes to West Berlin; she stays. Konrad Wolf’s film adaptation of Christa Wolf’s novel THE DIVIDED HEAVEN is one of the most beautiful DEFA films ever made—a film about love, about big decisions, and the question of what you leave behind when you go. Filmed shortly after the Berlin Wall was built. And as fresh as if it were made yesterday.