The cinema of World War I as transnational media history - a virtual exhibition of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek curated by the Deutsches Filminstitut

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Berlin, 19th July 2017

Joint Press Release of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and the Deutsches Filminstitut / German Film Institute

The World War I – no war has ever been filmed so extensively, no film medium has ever been so systematically used for opinion formation.

The virtual exhibition "The Cinema of World War I: Insights into a transnational media history" of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library) was curated by the Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute) and gives with a lot of historical film and photographic material, such as film clips, photographs and posters, a comprehensive picture of film history of the First World War and is therefore likely to inspire not only cineasts and historians.

The exhibition explores the commonalities and similarities in film production in different countries during World War I. For although the beginning of the war gave rise to a nationalisation of the film industry, the filmmakers who faced similar problems in the individual national states came to similar answers – in terms of formal design, content patterns or economic and propaganda strategies.

Film clips and set photographs from German, British, Italian and American films show how the reputation of famous actors like Marie Dressler, Theda Bara or Charles Chaplin was used for propaganda purposes. In 1917, Universum-Film AG, abbreviated Ufa, was established in Germany, which was aimed to produce subtle war propaganda with so-called "Tendenzdramen" (topical plays).

Next to movie stars, enemies and the front line, the exhibition guides through numerous other topics: from invisible cameramen, the emergence of new genres such as the spy film through to the use of archive recordings for front-line news reporting. In addition to all of this, some chapters focus on specific topics: the Dresden cameraman Wolfgang Filzinger, the actress Henny Porten and church ruins as motif icons.

The virtual exhibition was created in co-operation between the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library) with the Deutsches Filminstitut (DIF) (German Film Institute). The Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute) is the oldest cinematographic Institute of the Federal Republic of Germany and is one of the founding members of the competence network of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library). It was responsible for the project EFG1914 (European Film Gateway), which in cooperation with many European partners digitalised historical footage on the First World War.

The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library) uses the virtual exhibitions to show the variety of themes covered by over 22 million exhibits that are available at the moment. Exhibition pieces such as works of art or everyday objects from museums, files and certificates from archives or records – whether these are printed books or manuscripts – as well as audio recordings of music or animal voices, all of these are made available through 300 data partners and, in their entirety, represent the broad spectrum of cultural heritage. The exhibition published now in cooperation with the Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute) invites you to new discoveries and offers surprisingly topical findings with lot of video material.

Link to the exhibition (in German): http://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/kino/

Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute)

Founded in 1949 and, consequently, the oldest cinematographic institute of the Federal Republic is one of the most important institutions for the collection, archiving and scientific study of films and testimonies of film history as well as for the communication of film culture. It runs the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt am Main. With the Internet portal filmportal.de it manages the most comprehensive database of the German cinema. The Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute) was responsible for establishing the online portal europeanfilmgateway.eu. The follow-up project EFG1914 digitized historical footage of the First World War.

Contact: Frauke Haß, phone: +49 (0) 69 961 220 222, presse [at] deutsches-filminstitut.de (presse[at]deutsches-filminstitut[dot]de)

Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library)

The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library) interconnects digital stocks of cultural and scientific institutions in Germany and makes them centrally accessible. It provides unrestricted access to digitised museum objects, books, musical pieces, monuments, films, documents and many other cultural treasures for everybody. The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library) acts as a network, it interconnects and presents the digital programmes of its partners and contributes to the democratisation of knowledge and resources.

Your subscription to press mailing

In order to subscribe to the press mailing of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library), please send an email to presse [at] deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de (presse[at]deutsche-digitale-bibliothek[dot]de).

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19.07.2017 - The cinema of World War I as transnational media history - a virtual exhibition of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek curated by the Deutsches Filminstitut
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