Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

On the anniversary of an important film training centre

‘The Babelsberg Academy of Film and Television was our playground, where we could find out what kind of film we wanted to make and what topics we wanted to focus on. And when the East German world came apart at the seams at the end of the 1980s, it was a great stroke of luck to simply be able to pick up a camera. There are some things you only learn to appreciate after studying at a film school. For example, shooting films without financial pressure, with a free choice of artistic means, without the editors' requests for changes in the rough cut phase.’ (Bernd Sahling, September 2024. Sahling is a director, author, photographer, media educator and former film directing student at Babelsberg). * * * In autumn 2024, the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF will celebrate two anniversaries at once: 70 years of film school in Babelsberg and ten years of university status. The Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF is a vibrant place of independent research, teaching and art. Founded in 1954, it is now the largest film school in Germany with an international reputation. In July 2014, it became the first German film school to achieve university status. * * * ‘We tell stories. We tell stories with images, words and sounds, with bodies and spaces, with pixels and takes, with budgets and technologies. We question the history, the aesthetics and the future of audiovisual media. We tell stories with the desire and ambition to touch, inspire and make a difference.’ (From the mission statement of the Babelsberg Film University) * * * The Film University was founded in October 1954 at Schloss Babelsberg with the signing of the ‘Decree on the Establishment of the German Film University’ by the then Prime Minister, Otto Grotewohl, and the Minister of Culture, Johannes R. Becher. The Soviet All-Union Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow and the film faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (FAMU) served as models. As the university had also been officially training young television professionals since 1967, it was renamed the University of Film and Television (HFF) in 1969, with the addition of ‘Konrad Wolf’ from 1985. Located in the villa district of Babelsberg close to the border and with political events always in view, the educational institution succeeded surprisingly well in these years in regulating the difficult individual relationship between (permitted) artistic freedom and political conformity demanded by the state in favour of personal creativity - even if this could not rule out the exmatriculation of artistic and political pioneers, as the prominent examples of Thomas Brasch and Thomas Heise show. Until German reunification, more than 2000 directors, producers, dramaturges, actors, film scientists, cameramen, authors, sound and editing editors for the GDR media, but also for film and television media in numerous other countries (e.g. Vietnam, Chile, many Arab and African countries, Israel and Bulgaria) were trained in Babelsberg. Taking into account a positive opinion from the Science Council, the university was taken over by the new state of Brandenburg with effect from 17 December 1990. In 1994, the state parliament decided to build a new teaching and studio building for the university. This was a further strategic milestone in the development of the university, as it was to become an integral part of a planned European film centre and media location on the site of the renowned and globally recognised film city of Babelsberg. The new modern building was inaugurated in October 2000. As a result of the profile development, the Brandenburg Ministry of Science, Research and Culture (MWFK) and the university agreed on the transformation and expansion ‘into the first film university in Germany with an interdisciplinary artistic, technological and scientific education and research on the universal subject of film in its historical, current and future dimensions’. This step was completed on 8 July 2014 with an official ceremony. In its 60th year of existence, the Academy of Film and Television became the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.

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In autumn 2024, the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF will celebrate two anniversaries at once: 70 years of film school in Babelsberg and ten years of university status.

The Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF is a vibrant place of independent research, teaching and art. Founded in 1954, it is now the largest film school in Germany with an international reputation. In July 2014, it became the first German film school to achieve university status.

* * *

‘We tell stories. We tell stories with images, words and sounds, with bodies and spaces, with pixels and takes, with budgets and technologies. We question the history, the aesthetics and the future of audiovisual media. We tell stories with the desire and ambition to touch, inspire and make a difference.’ (From the mission statement of the Babelsberg Film University)

* * *

The Film University was founded in October 1954 at Schloss Babelsberg with the signing of the ‘Decree on the Establishment of the German Film University’ by the then Prime Minister, Otto Grotewohl, and the Minister of Culture, Johannes R. Becher. The Soviet All-Union Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow and the film faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (FAMU) served as models.

As the university had also been officially training young television professionals since 1967, it was renamed the University of Film and Television (HFF) in 1969, with the addition of ‘Konrad Wolf’ from 1985. Located in the villa district of Babelsberg close to the border and with political events always in view, the educational institution succeeded surprisingly well in these years in regulating the difficult individual relationship between (permitted) artistic freedom and political conformity demanded by the state in favour of personal creativity - even if this could not rule out the exmatriculation of artistic and political pioneers, as the prominent examples of Thomas Brasch and Thomas Heise show.

Until German reunification, more than 2000 directors, producers, dramaturges, actors, film scientists, cameramen, authors, sound and editing editors for the GDR media, but also for film and television media in numerous other countries (e.g. Vietnam, Chile, many Arab and African countries, Israel and Bulgaria) were trained in Babelsberg.

Taking into account a positive opinion from the Science Council, the university was taken over by the new state of Brandenburg with effect from 17 December 1990. In 1994, the state parliament decided to build a new teaching and studio building for the university. This was a further strategic milestone in the development of the university, as it was to become an integral part of a planned European film centre and media location on the site of the renowned and globally recognised film city of Babelsberg. The new modern building was inaugurated in October 2000.

As a result of the profile development, the Brandenburg Ministry of Science, Research and Culture (MWFK) and the university agreed on the transformation and expansion ‘into the first film university in Germany with an interdisciplinary artistic, technological and scientific education and research on the universal subject of film in its historical, current and future dimensions’. This step was completed on 8 July 2014 with an official ceremony. In its 60th year of existence, the Academy of Film and Television became the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.

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