The Viewers’ Choice: The State Organization of Cinema and the Film Preferences of Cinema-goers in the GDR, 1949-1990

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Joseph Garncarz
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 450004052

The project researches the role of the audience for the cinema of the GDR and, for this purpose, retrospectively compiles 40 annual film hit lists for the years 1950 to 1989. In the second phase of the project, essential additions and corrections will be made to the film hit lists compiled in the first phase. In addition, files preserved in the Federal Archives will be used to reconstruct how the SED state organized the cinema in such a way that, despite its ambition to ideologically educate the audience, it was possible for cinema-goers to follow their own preferences for entertainment.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants