Lars Karl is a Researcher at the Leipzig Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Europe and a Lecturer at the University of Leipzig and the Humboldt University of Berlin. He has published a book on the perception of Soviet movies in the GDR and numerous articles on Russian and Soviet film history.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART I: CULTURAL POLICY AND CINEMAChapter 1. From Soviet Zone to Volksdemokratie: The Politics of Film Culture in the GDR, 1945-1960David BathrickChapter 2. Czechoslovak Culture and Cinema, 1945-1960Jiří KnapíkPART II: PRODUCTION AND CO-PRODUCTIONChapter 3. “Veterans” and “Dilettantes”: Film Production Culture vis-à-vis Top-down Political Changes, 1945–1962Petr SzczepanikChapter 4. Barrandov’s Co-Productions: The Clumsy Way to Ideological Control, International Competitiveness, and Technological ImprovementPavel SkopalChapter 5. Co-Productions (Un)Wanted: 1950s East/West German Film Collaborations and the Impact of Sovietisation on DEFA’s Prestige AgendaMariana IvanovaChapter 6. No TV without Film: Production Relations between the DEFA Studios and Deutscher FernsehfunkThomas BeutelschmidtPART III: NON-FICTIONAL CINEMAChapter 7. Military Film Studios before 1970: Between Cinematic Avant-Garde and Films on CommandVáclav ŠmidrkalChapter 8. Socialism for Sale: Czechoslovak Krátký film, Custom-Made Film Production, and the Promotion of Consumer Culture in the 1950sLucie ČesálkováPART IV: CHILDREN'S CINEMAChapter 9. Between Magic and Education: the First Fairy Tale Films in the GDRChristin NiemeyerChapter 10. Children’s Films: Between Education, Art and IndustryLukáš SkupaPART V: FILM FESTIVALSChapter 11. Decreed Open-Mindedness: The Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Festival in the 1960s as an example of the self-representation of the East German StateAndreas KötzingChapter 12. National, Socialist, Global: The Changing Roles of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, 1946–1956Jindřiška BláhováPART VI: DISTRIBUTION AND RECEPTIONChapter 13. Cinema Cultures of Integration: Film Distribution and Exhibition in the GDR and Czechoslovakia from the Perspective of Two Local Cases, 1945-1960Kyrill Kunakhovich and Pavel SkopalChapter 14. A Decade between Resistance and Adaptation: The Leipzig University Film Club (1956-1966)Fernando Ramos ArenasChapter 15. Screening the Occupier as Liberator: Soviet War Films in the SBZ and the GDR, 1945-65Lars KarlFilmographyBibliographyIndex

“Given the signal role that “the most important of the arts” (as Lenin called cinema) plays in modern society, the book’s intellectual appeal transcends the disciplinary confines of “film studies,” offering a wealth of insights into the communist experiment with a classless society.” • Choice"Cinema in Service of the State is a valuable step towards a broader understanding of cinema in the Soviet Bloc." • Apparatus“Lars Karl and Pavel Skopal have produced an intriguing edited volume that addresses a significant lacuna in transnational cinema scholarship.” • Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television“Offers valuable insights into institutions that no longer exist, yet still resemble our own present institutions with their anxious tics and politicized economic imperatives… The volume provides an appropriate reference work for anyone working on Eastern bloc media from the period.” • Studies in Eastern European Cinema“The contributions convince not only through their analytical penetration of a difficult research area but also through conscientious dealing with the extremely rich source material.” • Fotografie und Film“A valuable contribution to the study of cinema in Czechoslovakia and the former GDR—and a rare example of a volume that ‘looks East’ and seeks to situate these two national cinemas within the broader context of Eastern European film production as a whole.” • Seán Allan, The University of Warwick

Lars Karl is a Researcher at the Leipzig Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Europe and a Lecturer at the University of Leipzig and the Humboldt University of Berlin. He has published a book on the perception of Soviet movies in the GDR and numerous articles on Russian and Soviet film history.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART I: CULTURAL POLICY AND CINEMAChapter 1. From Soviet Zone to Volksdemokratie: The Politics of Film Culture in the GDR, 1945-1960David BathrickChapter 2. Czechoslovak Culture and Cinema, 1945-1960Jiří KnapíkPART II: PRODUCTION AND CO-PRODUCTIONChapter 3. “Veterans” and “Dilettantes”: Film Production Culture vis-à-vis Top-down Political Changes, 1945–1962Petr SzczepanikChapter 4. Barrandov’s Co-Productions: The Clumsy Way to Ideological Control, International Competitiveness, and Technological ImprovementPavel SkopalChapter 5. Co-Productions (Un)Wanted: 1950s East/West German Film Collaborations and the Impact of Sovietisation on DEFA’s Prestige AgendaMariana IvanovaChapter 6. No TV without Film: Production Relations between the DEFA Studios and Deutscher FernsehfunkThomas BeutelschmidtPART III: NON-FICTIONAL CINEMAChapter 7. Military Film Studios before 1970: Between Cinematic Avant-Garde and Films on CommandVáclav ŠmidrkalChapter 8. Socialism for Sale: Czechoslovak Krátký film, Custom-Made Film Production, and the Promotion of Consumer Culture in the 1950sLucie ČesálkováPART IV: CHILDREN'S CINEMAChapter 9. Between Magic and Education: the First Fairy Tale Films in the GDRChristin NiemeyerChapter 10. Children’s Films: Between Education, Art and IndustryLukáš SkupaPART V: FILM FESTIVALSChapter 11. Decreed Open-Mindedness: The Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Festival in the 1960s as an example of the self-representation of the East German StateAndreas KötzingChapter 12. National, Socialist, Global: The Changing Roles of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, 1946–1956Jindřiška BláhováPART VI: DISTRIBUTION AND RECEPTIONChapter 13. Cinema Cultures of Integration: Film Distribution and Exhibition in the GDR and Czechoslovakia from the Perspective of Two Local Cases, 1945-1960Kyrill Kunakhovich and Pavel SkopalChapter 14. A Decade between Resistance and Adaptation: The Leipzig University Film Club (1956-1966)Fernando Ramos ArenasChapter 15. Screening the Occupier as Liberator: Soviet War Films in the SBZ and the GDR, 1945-65Lars KarlFilmographyBibliographyIndex

“Given the signal role that “the most important of the arts” (as Lenin called cinema) plays in modern society, the book’s intellectual appeal transcends the disciplinary confines of “film studies,” offering a wealth of insights into the communist experiment with a classless society.” • Choice"Cinema in Service of the State is a valuable step towards a broader understanding of cinema in the Soviet Bloc." • Apparatus“Lars Karl and Pavel Skopal have produced an intriguing edited volume that addresses a significant lacuna in transnational cinema scholarship.” • Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television“Offers valuable insights into institutions that no longer exist, yet still resemble our own present institutions with their anxious tics and politicized economic imperatives… The volume provides an appropriate reference work for anyone working on Eastern bloc media from the period.” • Studies in Eastern European Cinema“The contributions convince not only through their analytical penetration of a difficult research area but also through conscientious dealing with the extremely rich source material.” • Fotografie und Film“A valuable contribution to the study of cinema in Czechoslovakia and the former GDR—and a rare example of a volume that ‘looks East’ and seeks to situate these two national cinemas within the broader context of Eastern European film production as a whole.” • Seán Allan, The University of Warwick

Lars Karl is a Researcher at the Leipzig Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Europe and a Lecturer at the University of Leipzig and the Humboldt University of Berlin. He has published a book on the perception of Soviet movies in the GDR and numerous articles on Russian and Soviet film history.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART I: CULTURAL POLICY AND CINEMAChapter 1. From Soviet Zone to Volksdemokratie: The Politics of Film Culture in the GDR, 1945-1960David BathrickChapter 2. Czechoslovak Culture and Cinema, 1945-1960Jiří KnapíkPART II: PRODUCTION AND CO-PRODUCTIONChapter 3. “Veterans” and “Dilettantes”: Film Production Culture vis-à-vis Top-down Political Changes, 1945–1962Petr SzczepanikChapter 4. Barrandov’s Co-Productions: The Clumsy Way to Ideological Control, International Competitiveness, and Technological ImprovementPavel SkopalChapter 5. Co-Productions (Un)Wanted: 1950s East/West German Film Collaborations and the Impact of Sovietisation on DEFA’s Prestige AgendaMariana IvanovaChapter 6. No TV without Film: Production Relations between the DEFA Studios and Deutscher FernsehfunkThomas BeutelschmidtPART III: NON-FICTIONAL CINEMAChapter 7. Military Film Studios before 1970: Between Cinematic Avant-Garde and Films on CommandVáclav ŠmidrkalChapter 8. Socialism for Sale: Czechoslovak Krátký film, Custom-Made Film Production, and the Promotion of Consumer Culture in the 1950sLucie ČesálkováPART IV: CHILDREN'S CINEMAChapter 9. Between Magic and Education: the First Fairy Tale Films in the GDRChristin NiemeyerChapter 10. Children’s Films: Between Education, Art and IndustryLukáš SkupaPART V: FILM FESTIVALSChapter 11. Decreed Open-Mindedness: The Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Festival in the 1960s as an example of the self-representation of the East German StateAndreas KötzingChapter 12. National, Socialist, Global: The Changing Roles of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, 1946–1956Jindřiška BláhováPART VI: DISTRIBUTION AND RECEPTIONChapter 13. Cinema Cultures of Integration: Film Distribution and Exhibition in the GDR and Czechoslovakia from the Perspective of Two Local Cases, 1945-1960Kyrill Kunakhovich and Pavel SkopalChapter 14. A Decade between Resistance and Adaptation: The Leipzig University Film Club (1956-1966)Fernando Ramos ArenasChapter 15. Screening the Occupier as Liberator: Soviet War Films in the SBZ and the GDR, 1945-65Lars KarlFilmographyBibliographyIndex

“Given the signal role that “the most important of the arts” (as Lenin called cinema) plays in modern society, the book’s intellectual appeal transcends the disciplinary confines of “film studies,” offering a wealth of insights into the communist experiment with a classless society.” • Choice"Cinema in Service of the State is a valuable step towards a broader understanding of cinema in the Soviet Bloc." • Apparatus“Lars Karl and Pavel Skopal have produced an intriguing edited volume that addresses a significant lacuna in transnational cinema scholarship.” • Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television“Offers valuable insights into institutions that no longer exist, yet still resemble our own present institutions with their anxious tics and politicized economic imperatives… The volume provides an appropriate reference work for anyone working on Eastern bloc media from the period.” • Studies in Eastern European Cinema“The contributions convince not only through their analytical penetration of a difficult research area but also through conscientious dealing with the extremely rich source material.” • Fotografie und Film“A valuable contribution to the study of cinema in Czechoslovakia and the former GDR—and a rare example of a volume that ‘looks East’ and seeks to situate these two national cinemas within the broader context of Eastern European film production as a whole.” • Seán Allan, The University of Warwick