The Trauma of War in Weimar Cinema

Anton Kaes, professor of German and film & media, 
University of California-Berkeley, will present
 “The Trauma of War in Weimar Cinema” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 18, in Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center Room 101.

This lecture addresses the invisible, long-term effects of the First World War on German society. Although the lecture will focus on the iconic silent film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), it will make the larger claim that many films today are haunted by the memory of war.

Professor Kaes is the author of several books in English and German that deal with multidisciplinary and comparative aspects of film theory and German film history. His publications include From ‘Hitler’ to ‘Heimat’: The Return of History as Film (Harvard University Press, 1989); M (British Film Institute, 2001), and Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War (Princeton University Press, 2009), and the forthcoming co-edited sourcebook, The Promise of Cinema: German Film Theory, 1907-1933 (University of California Press).

Teaching at Berkeley since 1981, he served as Director of Film Studies at UC Berkeley from 1991-1996 and co-director (with Kaja Silverman) 1996-1999; from 2001 to 2006 he was chair of the German Department. In 1985 he co-founded the bi-annual German Film Institute; he has given lectures and workshops in Amsterdam, Berlin, Canberra, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, Vienna, and Tel Aviv. Since 1990 he is the co-editor of the book series “Weimar and Now: German Cultural History.” 

This free public lecture is the latest in the Center for the Humanities year-long theme "A Century of War: 1914 and Beyond." Grinnell welcomes and encourages the participation of people with disabilities. You can request accommodations from the Center for the Humanities or Conference Operations.