Background

The collection comprises about 2,200 hours of film material of the former Cintec Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft mbH from the period 1985-2005 on about 5,200 videotapes. These include recordings of the fall and demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Monetary Union, trials of GDR politicians and numerous interviews with contemporary witnesses.

Cintec Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft was founded in 1973 in West Berlin by the English journalist and cameraman George Peter Boultwood and the German sound engineer Gerhard Biroth. It aimed to provide journalistic coverage of explosive or significant political, cultural and social stories. Before the fall of the Wall, Cintec produced for West German and international broadcasters, but in some cases worked closely with colleagues from the German Democratic Republic (GDR), for example on the series "Alltag Ost" (Everyday East) produced for Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). From 1988 onwards, Cintec expanded its production of news and magazine reports. By 1994, some 3,500 film and videotapes had been made, documenting not only major political events but also everyday life in a divided country. In 1990, Peter Boultwood founded a Cintec branch in Berlin Mitte with former DEFA employee Mathias Remmert. In the post-reunification period, the company continued to produce documentaries and reports on current affairs as well as several long-running series on the establishment of political and cultural institutions in reunified Berlin. In July 2005, the Cintec Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft ceased operations and the film stock was transferred to the DEFA Foundation.

The collection comprises around 5,200 videotapes with approx. 2,200 hours of film material produced by Cintec Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft mbH between 1985 and 2005. It covers the last few years of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the fall of the Berlin Wall and the growing together of the two German states after reunification for public broadcasters. These include many hours of raw material recordings on the fall and demolition of the Wall, on the Monetary Union, on trials of GDR politicians, and numerous conversations with contemporary witnesses. The material impressively documents the mood in divided Germany, patrolling border guards on the inner-German border, emotions and reactions during the opening and demolition of the Berlin Wall, but also the contradictory feelings of people in East and West about the new social reality.