Wolfgang Kohlhaase

Film Series

Wolfgang Kohlhaase, born in Berlin in 1931, is one of the most distinctive screenwriters in German film history. At the age of 21, he wrote his first screenplay for a feature film produced by DEFA, the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). His early experiences shaped quite a few of the films he wrote. Two themes stand out: the confrontation with National Socialism and war, and a pronounced interest in the problems of young people. The youth theme is particularly expressed in a series of films Kohlhaase developed with director Gerhard Klein, and which includes most notably BERLIN – ECKE SCHÖNHAUSER (1957). After Klein’s death in 1970, Kohlhaase concentrated on collaborating with Konrad Wolf; he also officially co-directed the last of their four films together, SOLO SUNNY (1980). In the 1980s, he notably wrote the screenplays for two films by Frank Beyer. Even after the fall of the GDR, he continued to work in feature film productions. Films that stand out from this period are DIE STILLE NACH DEM SCHUSS (Volker Schlöndorff, 2000), HAUS UND KIND (Andreas Kleinert, 2009), as well as three films developed together with Andreas Dresen since 2005. Characteristic of all of Kohlhaase’s screenplays are a strong orientation to reality, a vivid, completely non-ideological characterization, the laconic condensation of situations, and terse, pointed dialogue.