This book is a representative history of East German film culture from 1946 to the present, examining both DEFA's celebrated classics and the most acclaimed post-unification feature films by East German directors.

'Hollywood behind the wall' demonstrates that East German cinema occupies an ambivalent position between German national cinema on the one hand and East European and Soviet cinema on the other. It includes a wide-ranging exploration of post-unification cinema from East Germany, including cult films such as 'Sun Alley' and 'Goodbye, Lenin!' and provides contextualised, close readings of twenty significant films, referencing one hundred and ninety East German films in total, along with numerous West German and East European classics.

The book's scope and its critical consideration of archival materials and scholarly literature make it an authoritative compendium for students and scholars of film studies, German studies and modern European history.