Konrad Wolf

20.10.1925, Hechingen, Germany - 07.03.1982, Berlin, Germany

Wolf is a German director and screenwriter, son of the German dramatist Friedrich Wolf. In 1933, his family fled from Germany to USSR after the Nazis came to power. During the war, he served in the Red Army and returned to his home country 1945 as a nineteen-year-old lieutenant of the soviet army. In the spring of that same year, he was the commander of Bernau, a city close to Berlin. His autobiographical film Ich war neunzehn (1968) is about that period in his life. He began working on film after the war, studied film in Moscow and learned from directors such as Sergej Gerasimov and Grigorij Aleksandrov. In 1954, he moved to East Germany. His most famous film in the West is Stars (Sterne, 1959), and his other films include Professor Mamlock (1961), The Divided Heaven (Der geteilte Himmel, 1964), Goya - oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis (1971), Sun Seekers (Sonnensucher, 1972), Mama, I'm Alive (Mama, ich lebe, 1977) and Solo Sunny (1980).

Filmography

Films by this director

Stars

(Sterne, 1959)

Directed by: Konrad Wolf

PHOTOGRAPHY: Werner Bergmann

Synopsis:

This is a story about forbidden love between a Nazi officer and a young Jewish girl during WW II. In 1943, a group of German soldiers accompanying Jews on their way to a concentration camp stop in a small Bulgarian town. German officer Walter unexpectedly falls in love with Ruth, a Jewish girl who is being deported. Questioning his role in the war, Walter tries to organize Ruth’s escape.

16 mm, b/w, 88 min

I Was Nineteen

(Ich war neunzehn, DR Germany, 1968)

Directed by: Konrad Wolf

PHOTOGRAPHY: Werner Bergmann

Synopsis:

Based on the director Konrad Wolf’s autobiography, the film tells the story of a young soldier of the red Army. At the age of eight, Gregor and his family ran away from Germany to Russia and now at the end of WW II, he is in Berlin on the enemy’s side. He is forced to fight against people from his former country and has to find a way to come to terms with his past.

b/w, HD, 115'

Solo Sunny

(1980)

Directed by: Konrad Wolf

PHOTOGRAPHY: Eberhard Geick

Synopsis:

Sunny is a singer in a band from East Berlin living a chaotic life, constantly on the road and performing. Even though she is thus alone, she knows very well what she wants and does not accept compromises. When she refuses Norbert’s flirting, he throws her out of their band and Sunny has to start a solo career. At the same time she starts a relationship with Ralph, a philosophy student.

35mm, color, 100 min

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