DEFA Film Library hosts visiting scholar

The DEFA Film Library this summer is hosting its first visiting scholar from Austria, according to director Barton Byg, professor in German and Scandinavian Studies.

Barbara Eichinger, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Vienna who arrived last month, is on campus through August. Supported by a research stipend from her university, Eichinger has come to Amherst to research youth films from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). This is partly in preparation of her dissertation, which has a working title of “Boredom, Youth Culture and Film.” The full project includes comparative study of films from the GDR, the U.S. and Japan.

Eichinger is a member of the research initiative group, “Senses, Technology, Mise-en-Scène: Media and Perception,” at the University of Vienna, which aims to generate Ph.D. theses analyzing interrelations between sensory perception, technology, and media. Her publications include “Tataschen der Seele. Arthur Schnitzler und der Film,” published in 2006, and “Von der Vision Realität: Film im Sozialismus – die DEFA,” which is scheduled for publication next spring. The latter is a volume raising from a conference she organized with Frank Stern in Vienna. The DEFA Film Library was a co-sponsor of the conference.

August 7, 2008.

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