7 October 2011 - 8 February 2012

Between 1950 and 1990, some 120 amateur film studios and independent amateur filmmakers existed in Brandenburg. In many instances, small groups of people gathered to convey their own perspectives on reality and, in particular, their immediate social environment – despite surveillance and control by the state. These film enthusiasts created more than 1,000 films in their leisure time, yet only a few of them – such as the early works of Andreas Dresen – are known to the public today.
Since 2010, Filmmuseum Potsdam has been cooperating with the Brandenburg Association of Museums in a research project that aims at finding these films and making them available. The exhibition showed the first results of this project.
Along with the films, selected studios and filmmakers were at the center of the exhibition. Narrow-gauge cameras and projectors showed the technical possibilities that were available to this community. While written documents attested to the tensions between amateur filmmaking and official cultural policy, the film excerpts presented in the exhibition prompted discussions on to what extent they present a different perspective on GDR reality.