BD 348 Trace of Stones

[Finch]

In the mid-1960s, eleven films produced by DEFA – the state-operated film studio of the German Democratic Republic – were either pulled from theatres or barred from release due to their supposedly anti-socialist themes. The most infamous of these films was Trace of Stones, an intense and accomplished political drama directed by one of East Germany’s most talented filmmakers, Frank Beyer (Jakob the Liar).

Hannes Balla (Manfred Krug) is the bullish leader of a crew on an East German worksite and is not averse to indulging in some questionable tactics – including the theft of scarce materials – if it will keep his projects on track. In order to tame Balla, the ruling Socialist Unity Party installs Secretary Werner Horrath (Eberhard Esche) to oversee the site’s day-to-day operations. At the same time, a new engineer arrives: Kati Klee (Krystyna Stypułkowska), a lone woman in an all-male environment. As a love triangle develops between Klee, Balla and Horrath, tensions both personal and political threaten to boil over.

A nuanced exploration of the everyday workings of socialism in practice, Trace of Stones was perceived as an attack on the GDR’s national ideology and withdrawn from cinemas in 1966. Frank Beyer did not direct another feature film until 1975, while Trace of Stones was suppressed until after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this extraordinary film, available on Blu-ray for the first time.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Carly A-F [2000 copies]
Limited edition booklet featuring a new essay on the response of East German audiences to the banning of Trace of Stones by DEFA expert Michael Wedel [2000 copies]
1080p HD presentation from a restoration by the DEFA Foundation
Original German audio
Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
The 11th Plenum: A Cultural Devastation – substantial archival documentary on the 11th Plenum, which resulted in the banning of several DEFA productions including Trace of Stones
Trace of Time: Director Frank Beyer – feature-length archival documentary on Trace of Stones director Frank Beyer, widely recognised as one of the most important East German filmmakers
Children’s Home (Angelika Andrees & Petra Tschörtner, 1978) – DEFA documentary on the residents of an East German children’s home, banned until after the fall of the Berlin Wall

[domino harvey]

Not familiar with this but extremely high ratings from my Letterboxd friends for it

[T!me]

This is propably the greatest DEFA-Film right after Konrad Wolfs Ich war Neunzehn (1968) and was quickly banned by the East German government.

Hopefully, MoC will bring us some hidden DEFA-gems like Isabel auf der Treppe (Hannelore Unterberg, 1984) or Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann (Helke Misselwitz, 1989).

[ex-cowboy]

Second the shout for some Misselwitz - Winter Ade is superb too. A number of her films, including Wer fürchtet, are available to view on Doc Alliance

[Calvin]

I really like this one. I'm not sure how much of the DEFA catalog Eureka have licensed but I hope that these releases continue as they have been a godsend (AI transfer blips notwithstanding).

I'd third the shout out for Misselwitz - I'd particularly love to see Herzsprung get a release. I'm surprised that Eureka haven't done a Konrad Wolf yet, so I'm wondering/have convinced myself that he might be the subject of a box set seeing as I think all of his work was restored for his centenery last year. Heiner Carow's semi-autobiographical Die Russen kommen would round off my DEFA wishlist.

[zedz]

This is a great film. About time one of the prestige labels picked it up.

[Stefan Andersson]

Here is a good collection of downloadable info re: DEFA films:
https://www.umass.edu/defa/films/

[Lowry_Sam]

I would imagine there might be a DEFA documentary box/es or perhaps director box for these, particularly for WWII themed docs & then maybe another for docs on people & places adapting to change after the war. In addition to Misselwitz, Walter Heynowski's documentaries would also be nice to have on disc: Kamerad Krüger, Der lachende Mann - Bekenntnisse eines Mörders, &Aktion J and maybe another on his South American & CIA intervention in Latin America documentaries: Der Krieg der Mumien, I Was, I Am, I Shall Be, El Golpe blanco - Der weiße Putsch, Die Toten schweigen nicht

For those interested, Altered Innocence has already released Coming Out on blu in the US, don't know if it's region-coded offhand.

[brundlefly]

Is this UK-only due to rights, or perceived demand? Who would have this in the US?

[Matt]

First Run Features put out several DEFA films on disc, and they were/are apparently "the exclusive North American home video distributor of the films of DEFA." They released this film on DVD in 2007 and probably still hold the rights.

[brundlefly]

Import it is, then. Thanks.

[karmajuice]

First Run Features put out several DEFA films on disc, and they were/are apparently "the exclusive North American home video distributor of the films of DEFA." They released this film on DVD in 2007 and probably still hold the rights.

Worth pointing out that Deaf Crocodile has put out a DEFA release that had overlap with Eureka's sci-fi set, and they're releasing a collection of DEFA fairy tale films soon. This particular title doesn't seem like the kind of thing they'd jump on - they tend to lean toward the oddball and fantastical - but it does mean that First Run doesn't have a monopoly on US DEFA releases.

[Matt]

Perhaps that First Run Features deal expired after all. It's been almost 25 years since they announced it. I see on Kanopy (streaming service) that this film is credited to "DEFA Film Library," and The University of Massachusetts seems to be the non-theatrical distributor for their films.

Whatever the case, I can see MoC not wanting to make separate deals with different US and UK licensors.

[TechnicolorAcid]

First Run Features put out several DEFA films on disc, and they were/are apparently "the exclusive North American home video distributor of the films of DEFA." They released this film on DVD in 2007 and probably still hold the rights.

Worth pointing out that Deaf Crocodile has put out a DEFA release that had overlap with Eureka's sci-fi set, and they're releasing a collection of DEFA fairy tale films soon. This particular title doesn't seem like the kind of thing they'd jump on - they tend to lean toward the oddball and fantastical - but it does mean that First Run doesn't have a monopoly on US DEFA releases.

I remember hearing from Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile and that they were planning on doing a release of I Was Nineteen but apparently the US DEFA branch doesn’t have the rights to it but I assume that means they’re at least trying to secure at least a couple other less fantastical films distributed by DEFA (not to mention other companies like Altered Innocence have released DEFA owned films like Coming Out). Also, I could’ve sworn Criterion had the rights to The Murderers Are Amongst Us so if that’s true then it does mean that they could release some other high profile DEFA films if they do actually have a connection with them.

Whatever the case, I can see MoC not wanting to make separate deals with different US and UK licensors.

I should note that I did reach out to Eureka and they said that were only able to license this from the UK licensors so maybe this is still with First Run Features after all.