German Film Club - Spur der Steine

Frank Beyer's "Spur der Steine" (Trace of Stones) from 1966 was only on cinema posters for a few days before the SED's central committee banned it and pulled it from theatres. It did not receive a public screening again until November 1989.

The film takes place on the Schkona construction site, where foreman Balla runs the site's best crew according to his own rules. When the newly appointed party secretary Horrath arrives, the balance between workers, management, and the party shifts. The two men quickly become rivals - and the conflict escalates when both fall in love with engineer Kati Klee. At the same time, they share a desire to clean up the construction site's sloppiness and inefficiency, which puts them at odds with a system that resists change.

Beyer was one of East Germany's most prominent directors and worked for the state film company DEFA. The film is based on Erik Neutsch's novel of the same name - the novel was published without problems, while the film adaptation was hit by censorship.

The German Film Club is a collaboration between the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Languages at the University of Copenhagen, Kulturhuset Islands Brygge, and the Goethe-Institut.