This project and the website have been made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Culture in the Cold War, and by the DEFA Film Library, with the support of the German and Scandinavian Studies Program, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. It accomplishes this mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers. NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars. The goals of the grants are to:

• strengthen teaching and learning in schools and colleges
• facilitate research and original scholarship
• provide opportunities for lifelong learning
• preserve and provide access to cultural and educational resources
• strengthen the institutional base of the humanities

Fore more information, please see http://www.neh.gov/

 

The DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst (DFL), founded shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, is the only archive and research center outside of Germany devoted to a broad spectrum of filmmaking from and related to the former GDR. It houses an extensive collection of 35- and 16mm prints, DVDs, books, periodicals and articles. Students are involved in all aspects of the Library’s research, outreach and teaching activities and also gain valuable experience in subtitling and library, conference and arts management.

DFL makes films available to a wide public in the USA and Canada through: touring film series; the rental of 35- and 16mm films from our collection; and the production and distribution of films—on DVD and via streaming—with English subtitles and extensive bonus materials by experts in the field. DFL titles have screened at prestigious venues throughout North America, including: The Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Achives and Lincoln Center in New York; Harvard Film Archive and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; the American Film Institute and National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.; LACMA and Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Toronto International Film Festival; and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus Ohio.

Fore more information see: www.umass.edu/defa