Red Cartoons: Animated Films from East Germany DVD Review
You can own this DVD today
Synopsis: East Germany’s DEFA Studios (Deutsche Filmaktiengesellschaft) produced more than 800 animated films. Included here are sixteen of the best – an astonishing array of animation featuring a wide variety of styles and techniques, filled with social and political satire that would have never been allowed in liveaction films.
Films included
Drum Beat (Otto Sacher, 1974)
Star and Flower (Otto Sacher, 1978)
Loneliness (Otto Sacher, 1979)
Variants (Klaus Georgi, 1979)
The Rescue (Sieglinde Hamacher, 1980)
Seven Rights of a Viewer (Marion Rasche / Peter Mißbach, 1980)
Mr. Daff Is Shooting a Film (Klaus Georgi, 1980)
Hello (Hans Moser / Thomas Rosié, 1984)
Consequence (Klaus Georgi, 1986)
The Solution (Sieglinde Hamacher, 1987)
Belly and Soul (Klaus Georgi, 1988)
The Breakdown (Klaus Georgi / Lutz Stützner, 1988)
The Full Circle (Klaus Georgi, 1988)
The Monument (Klaus Georgi / Lutz Stützner, 1989)
Sunday (Klaus Georgi / Lutz Stützner, 1989)
Island Joke (Lutz Stützner, 1990)
Drum Beat (Otto Sacher, 1974)
Star and Flower (Otto Sacher, 1978)
Loneliness (Otto Sacher, 1979)
Variants (Klaus Georgi, 1979)
The Rescue (Sieglinde Hamacher, 1980)
Seven Rights of a Viewer (Marion Rasche / Peter Mißbach, 1980)
Mr. Daff Is Shooting a Film (Klaus Georgi, 1980)
Hello (Hans Moser / Thomas Rosié, 1984)
Consequence (Klaus Georgi, 1986)
The Solution (Sieglinde Hamacher, 1987)
Belly and Soul (Klaus Georgi, 1988)
The Breakdown (Klaus Georgi / Lutz Stützner, 1988)
The Full Circle (Klaus Georgi, 1988)
The Monument (Klaus Georgi / Lutz Stützner, 1989)
Sunday (Klaus Georgi / Lutz Stützner, 1989)
Island Joke (Lutz Stützner, 1990)
Review: The DEFA animation studio controlled most animation in East Germany for more than 35 years. Once the Berlin wall came down the production winded down on these often politically charged cartoons. This is something that would otherwise be lost, since it came from a very enclosed part of the world during a turbulant time. Fortunately, we get this single disc DVD release, which features a sampling of 16 cartoons. Its an amazing piece of history.
The cartoons are deceptive in their simplicity. There is no overly involved plot or complex animation here. Its a lot of political satire and ironic situations. The non-sequitur shorts almost seem like political comics from the newspaper brought to life through animation.
The DVD does include the extra of giving brief bios for the animators. We'd love to see more of these releases in the future. This would be an amazing DVD to bring into the classroom to illustrate the tone of Eastern Germany throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Its also just a great piece of animation and world history to add to your collection!
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars