Celebrating KONRAD WOLF @ 100
Monday, October 20th @ 7:00 PM at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles.
Special Screening on the occasion of Filmmaker Konrad Wolf's 100th Birthday
Presented in cooperation with the Defa Film Library at UMass Amherst
Admission is free with above RSVP link | Capacity is limited | Light refreshments provided
RSVP holders will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.
I WAS NINETEEN | ICH WAR NEUNZEHN
Director Konrad Wolf
Screenwriter Konrad Wolf, Wolfgang Kohlhaase
Cinematography Werner Bergmann
Editor Evelyn Carow
Cast Jaecki Schwarz, Vasili Livanov, Alexej Ejboshenko, Galina Polskich, Jenny Gröllmann, Rolf Hoppe
Unit Production Manager Herbert Ehler
Production Company DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme (Künslerische Arbeitsgruppe „Babelsberg 67“)
April 1945: For 19-year-old Gregor Hecker, returning to his native Germany is not an easy task. Born in Cologne and raised in Moscow following his parents' emigration when he was eight, Gregor feels more Russian than German. Now a Red Army Lieutenant serving in a propaganda unit, Gregor's mission is to convince German soldiers and civilians to surrender. Gregor must come to terms with the notion that Germany is not only the land of his birth, but that the Germans are also his fellow countrymen. He returns not only as conqueror, but also one of the conquered.
Through his interactions with other Germans, Gregor gradually comes to realize that not all Germans are guilty and that many are crucial to a peaceful post-war Germany. Drawing on Konrad Wolf's own experiences as a Red Army officer during the Second World War, Wolf's masterpiece, co-written by Wolfgang Kohlhaase, is a poetic exploration of the postwar dilemma of German identity and a powerful document about the search for a "usable" German past.
A true landmark of postwar German cinema, I was Nineteen is considered one of the 100 most significant German films.
SELECT AWARDS
Art Prize of the Society for German-Soviet Friendship 1975
Halle 1969 Best Youth Film, Henrich-Greif-Award 1. Class
National Prize of the GDR 1968 National Prize 1. Class
Konrad Wolf was born in Hechingen, Germany, on October 20th, 1925. In 1933, his family emigrated to the Soviet Union. At the age of 18, he joined the Red Army and returned to Germany as a lieutenant in 1945. He studied directing at the Moscow Film School in 1949 and worked as an assistant director to Kurt Maetzig at the DEFA Studios in 1953. His first feature film was EINMAL IST KEINMAL (1955). His major films include: GENESUNG (1956), LISSY (1957), SONNENSUCHER (1958), STERNE (1959), DER GETEILTE HIMMEL (1964), ICH WAR NEUNZEHN (1967), DER NAKTE MANN AUF DEM SPORTPLATZ (1974), MAMA ICH LEBE (1977), and SOLO SUNNY (1980).
From 1965, Wolf was president of the East German Academy of Arts until his death in 1982.
US DISTRIBUTION
DEFA Film Library at the UMass Amherst
www.umass.edu/defa
The German Currents Film Festival 2025 is a co-production of the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and the American Cinematheque, with the support of The Friends of Goethe, ELMA, Condor, The Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles, go-international, Tupetz Wine Connection, Paulaner USA, Paulaner Sunset, Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V., the German Film Office, our media partners Deutsche Welle, KPFK Radio, Campus Circle, our educational outreach partners Creating Creators, and in cooperation with the German Consulate General in Los Angeles.
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