Florian Kumb provides a comprehensive review of the current state of the international literature on the motion picture industry and then applies a mix of appropriate quantitative and qualitative research methods in three empirical studies. He enters uncharted research territory examining the effects that major film characteristics cause in the post-theatrical exhibition, he identifies key factors that influence public film funding decisions, and then forecasts the future market development of a European film-financing network. The author shows that the characteristics of local movies, public film funding, and the local film financing network are major reasons for the low international competitiveness of Germany’s motion picture industry.

By the time the Berlin Wall collapsed, the cinema of the German Democratic Republic—to the extent it was considered at all—was widely regarded as a footnote to European film history, with little of enduring value. Since then, interest in East German cinema has exploded, inspiring innumerable festivals, books, and exhibits on the GDR’s rich and varied filmic output. In Re-Imagining DEFA, leading international experts take stock of this vibrant landscape and plot an ambitious course for future research, one that considers other cinematic traditions, brings genre and popular works into the fold, and encompasses DEFA’s complex post-unification “afterlife.”