November 2025 - Januar 2026
Konrad Wolf - Understanding the Past, Confronting the Present
Film Series in the Cinema + Online|Celebrating the centenary of the East German director
Konrad Wolf (1925–1982) is widely regarded as one of East Germany’s most significant film directors and cultural figures. A committed anti-fascist and Communist of Jewish background, Wolf spent his youth in Soviet exile and returned to Germany as a soldier in the Red Army at the end of World War II. His filmmaking career was marked by a persistent engagement with Germany’s National Socialist past, a nuanced and evolving portrayal of life in the GDR, and a deep concern with the responsibilities of individuals, especially artists within (socialist) society. Wolf’s body of work is both deeply personal and searching, yet always conscious of its social and political relevance. In celebration of the centenary of his birth, we present a selection of his thought-provoking and aesthetically ambitious films—works that continue to resonate and challenge, retaining their power to ask difficult questions.
From November 2025 through to the end of January 2026 we will show ten of Konrad Wolf's fifteen films. Bookended by his seminal I was 19 ( Ich war 19, 1968) and his perhaps most popular film Solo Sunny (1980), the series includes three works exploring Germany’s National Socialist past—Lissy (1957), Stars (Sterne, 1959), and Professor Mamlock (1961),—as well as three films in addition to Solo Sunny which depict different periods and aspects of East German 'Gegenwart' - contemporary life in the GDR: Sun Seekers (Sonnensucher, 1958), Divided Heaven (Der Geteilte Himmel,1964), and the unfairly overlooked The Naked Man on the Sportsfield (Der Nackte Mann auf dem Sportplatz, 1973). Also featured is Mama, I'm Alive (Mama, ich lebe, 1977), which varies the themes of I was 19, as well as the exception in Wolf’s oeuvre—the epic historical costume drama Goya (1971). There will be special introductions to the opening film I was 19 on Wednesday, 12 November and to Sun Seekers on Monday, 24 November.
Seven of the films will also be available on our streaming platform Goethe on Demand for one week starting on the Saturday after their respective cinema screenings. Please note that the online screening of Stars will already start on Thursday, 22 January and continue till Thursday, 29 January 2026.
With special thanks to the DEFA Film Library in Massachusetts, USA.
Events
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Konrad Wolf: Divided Heaven
Online Film Screening | Only Available in the UK
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Goethe-Institut London, London
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Konrad Wolf: The Naked Man on the Sports Field
Film | Cinema Screening
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Goethe-Institut London, London
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German and English
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Konrad Wolf: Stars
Film | Online Film Screening (Only Available in the UK)
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Goethe-Institut London, London
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Konrad Wolf: Professor Mamlock
Film | Online Film Screening (Only Available in the UK)
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Goethe-Institut London, London
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Konrad Wolf: Solo Sunny
Film | Online Film Screening (Only Available in the UK)
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Goethe-Institut London, London
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