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In the mid-1960s, eleven films produced by DEFA – the state-operated film studio of the German Democratic Republic – were either pulled from theatres or barred from release due to their supposedly anti-socialist themes. The most infamous of these films was Trace of Stones, an intense and accomplished political drama directed by one of East Germany’s most talented filmmakers, Frank Beyer (Jakob the Liar).
Hannes Balla (Manfred Krug) is the bullish leader of a crew on an East German worksite and is not averse to indulging in some questionable tactics – including the theft of scarce materials – if it will keep his projects on track. In order to tame Balla, the ruling Socialist Unity Party installs Secretary Werner Horrath (Eberhard Esche) to oversee the site’s day-to-day operations. At the same time, a new engineer arrives: Kati Klee (Krystyna Stypułkowska), a lone woman in an all-male environment. As a love triangle develops between Klee, Balla and Horrath, tensions both personal and political threaten to boil over.
A nuanced exploration of the everyday workings of socialism in practice, Trace of Stones was perceived as an attack on the GDR’s national ideology and withdrawn from cinemas in 1966. Frank Beyer did not direct another feature film until 1975, while Trace of Stones was suppressed until after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this extraordinary film, available on Blu-ray for the first time.
