Hollywood Behind The Wall

Daniela Berghahn demonstrates that East German cinema occupies an ambivalent position between German national cinema on the one hand and East European and Soviet cinema on the other. The book includes a wide-ranging exploration of post-unification cinemafrom East Germany.

He's lost his way... A bullet to the chest during their last mission gave James “Hollywood” Wright, a wake up call like no other. On sabbatical to figure out his future, he is interrupted by an unexpected guest, who turns out to be the first woman who hasn’t thrown herself at him in a long time. She can find anything... especially trouble... Archaeologist Mia Holland is trying to heal so she can resume her search, until she is disturbed by an unwelcome intrusion in the form of a Shadow Soldier. Mia isn’t about to let him boss her around, regardless of his rugged good looks and an irresistible smile. With her very own bodyguard in tow, can Mia find the lost pieces of the talisman before her cowardly ex gets his hands on them? Readers are advised that the following work contains portrayals of elements such as violence, sex scenes and themes that require a mature outlook. Heat rating: moderate

A reassessment of the journey Germans in East and West have taken during the past two and a half decades: even today, an open-ended, unfinished journey.

Kees Madden, a young writer steeped in film history, suddenly finds himself living in the Hollywood he always imagined existed just beyond the shadows, an alternate Hollywood of malicious ghosts and the famous phantoms of filmland's past. The city has the power to shift time and space and is capable of ironic response when confronted by Madden's overactive imagination. It is also the city's perverse pleasure to confront him with a diverse cadre of Hollywood ghosts. Although enthralled by this bizarre new world, Madden finds himself eager to escape, while the unseen forces behind Dead Hollywood have other plans. In pursuit of the city's boundaries and arcane secrets, Madden encounters three enigmatic humans: a clever, sinister man and two intriguing, beautiful women. As they lead him through a fantastic dream/maze of Hollywood past and present, Madden is severely tempted by the two ladies. Although they seem to be polar opposites, could Madden be capable of falling in love with them both? Or are they only malevolent ghosts, eager to imprison Madden in their depraved Hollywood hells? Peter Beckman grew up in the northern California town of Carmichael where, at age 11, he became an actor in local theatre and college productions. In his early twenties, he attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied screenwriting with legendary director Alexander Mackendrick ("The Man In The White Suit," "The Sweet Smell Of Success"). Beckman has also appeared in films as varied as "Echo Park," "C.H.U.D. II" and Orson Welles' still-unreleased masterwork, "The Other Side Of The Wind." Beckman lives in Los Angeles where, under the pseudonym Anthony Landor, he currently provides voices for many of the world's most popular videogames, including "Street Fighter IV" (Zangief) and "Dissidia: Final Fantasy" (Golbez). He can also be heard as the voice of General Wolf in the Sci-Fi Channel's hit anime series "Monster." Dead Hollywood is his first novel."

Movie studios are the wondrous, almost magical locales where not just films, but legends, are created. Unfortunately, these celebrity playgrounds are, and always have been, largely hidden from public view. Although some movie studios offer tours, few guests from outside the Hollywood community have ever been witness to the artistry, politics, and scandals that routinely go on behind the soundstage walls and away from the carefully orchestrated scenes visible to them from their tram carts. In this book, studio staff historian and Hollywood insider Steven Bingen throws open Hollywood’s iron gates and takes you inside the greatest and yet most mysterious movie studio of them all: Warner Bros. Long home to the world’s biggest stars and most memorable films and television shows, the Warner Bros. Studio lot functions as a small city and is even more fascinating, glamorous, and outrageous than any of the stars or movies that it has been routinely minting for more than ninety years. Accompanied by stunning behind-the-scenes photos and maps, and including a revealing backstory, this book is your ticket to a previously veiled Hollywood paradise.

Drawing on archival research and interviews with directors, writers, and editors, Last Features is the story of forgotten films made during the time of German unification. Last Features is the story of forgotten films made during the time of German unification. With leftover GDR funds and under chaotic conditions, a group of young East German filmmakers produced around thirty stylistically diverse films. Most of these films were lost in the political upheaval of the Wende, disappearing until the 2009 Wendeflicks festival in Los Angeles brought them back for an international audience. Now available on DVD, these films provide unique insights into the generational struggle in the DEFA studio, East German youth culture in the 1970s, women directors at DEFA, the relationship between the artist and the state, and the protests of 1989. Last Features focuses in particular on the production group "DaDaeR," the creation of which in 1989 fulfilled a longstanding request by the last generation of DEFA directors for freer production conditions. Drawing onarchival research and interviews with the directors, writers, and editors of the films in question, each chapter examines specific films from the last year of DEFA, contextualizing the analysis of these "last features" with a comprehensive discussion of the directors' overall oeuvres, the historical changes in the studio and the country, and the lasting importance of these films today. Reinhild Steingröver is Associate Professor of German and Film Studies in the Department of Humanities at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.

Examines the role of American filmmakers in the ideological struggle against communism

Pastor and author Matt Rawle is on a mission. He sees Christ all around him—in books, movies, TV shows, rock music—and he wants to share what he sees. As Matt says, "God offers the raw ingredients, and 'culture' is whatever we cook up." Hollywood Jesus is pastor and author Matt Rawle's study of Jesus and Christ figures in films including Cool Hand Luke, The Lion King, The Truman Show, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Explore what happens when script meets Scripture, when pop culture encounters the King of kings and Lord of lords. Hollywood Jesus is part of The Pop in Culture Series of Bible studies in which Matt Rawle stirs up a tasty gumbo of insight, humor, and inspiration based on some of your favorite pop culture classics. A DVD featuring four sessions with the author, a full Leader Guide, and a Worship Resources Flash Drive also are available for group study.

This selection of essays taken from Hollywood Quarterly reflect the eclecticism of the journal, with sections on animation, the avant-garde, and documentary to go along with a representative sampling of articles about feature-length narrative films.

East Germany’s ruling party never officially acknowledged responsibility for the crimes committed in Germany’s name during the Third Reich. Instead, it cast communists as both victims of and victors over National Socialist oppression while marginalizing discussions of Jewish suffering. Yet for the 1977 Academy Awards, the Ministry of Culture submitted Jakob der Lügner – a film focused exclusively on Jewish victimhood that would become the only East German film to ever be officially nominated. By combining close analyses of key films with extensive archival research, this book explores how GDR filmmakers depicted Jews and the Holocaust in a country where memories of Nazi persecution were highly prescribed, tightly controlled and invariably political.