Film & History News

FILM & HISTORY NEWS INSTITUT FUR DEN WISSENSCHAFTLICHEN, GOTTINGEN The value of film as source material for contemporary history is undeniable; historians and representatives of related disciplines, however , still hesitate to include the cinematographic document into their studies. There are many reasons for this reluctance. Primarily it is difficult to make the material available and in addition there is a generally reserved attitude of liberal scientists toward audiovisual material as such—historians mainly are used to analyze written documents! This is where the section HISTORY of the Institut fur den Wissenschaftlichen Film sees the wide scope of its tasks. The institute itself is the central institution of Federal Republic for the production of films for higher education, where "model" film analyses have been worked out in cooperation with historians in order to offer different approaches of handling a cinematographic document. In close connection with the corresponding film archives we select material—till now documentary films and newsreels, only—which we suppose to be of interest for a larger audience. A written publication of the results of the film study belongs to each film print. This publication contains a detailed protocole (with sound-track and corresponding pictures), the technical data of production as well as the intention, reception and analysis of the film. For further information write to: Ursula Spormann-Lorenz, c/o Institut fur den Wissenschaftlichen Film Gottingen, Nonnenstieg 72, 3400 Gottingen. 43 ...