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“Nazi propaganda cinema”, in the Filmoteca

From the 8th to the 19th of January, the Filmoteca will be screening six Nazi-era films and a number of contemporary documentaries dealing with the use made of cinema by Adolf Hitler’s totalitarian regime

Always on the alert for any available mechanism for ideological assimilation, the Nazi regime used cinema as both a vehicle for influencing the German people and as a weapon against its enemies. The series entitled Nazi propaganda cinema, which the Filmoteca is offering between the 8th and 19th of January, includes some of the more relevant films in an attempt to provide both a historical analysis and a modern perspective on how the films were deployed and what the consequences were. The sole objective of this type of cinema was to exalt the new authoritarian power and ideological anti-Semitism of a regime based on hatred and intolerance.

Leni Riefenstahl and Veit Harlan were two of the film makers linked to National Socialism that were eventually to have the greatest repercussion. Among others, Riefenstahl was responsible for one of the most representative Nazi propaganda films, The Triumph of the Will, a documentary about the 1934 Nazi party congress in Nuremburg, which will be shown on the 12th of January.

The Harlan film, Jew Süss, a decidedly anti-Semitic film became an instantly popular in Germany at the time, will be screened on the 16th. Other films programmed include Homecoming, by Gustav Ucicky, and Hitler Youth Quex, by Hans Steinhoff. The Nazi-era films will be duly presented and contextualised by experts in the field and will be accompanied by contemporary documentaries on the subject. In addition, on the 17th, there will be a debate with Cathy de Haan, Stefan Drössler, Román Gubern, Felix Moeller and Esteve Riambau.

Publication date: Thursday, 02 January 2014
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