Film Archive

Stalingrad

Stalingrad – a name forever associated with the horrors of war at their most unimaginable and traumatic. For the first time ever, the Battle of Stalingrad – which cost hundreds of thousands of lives and marked the turning point of World War II – is portrayed not only from a German perspective. The three-part film (3 x 52 min) was conceived and edited by internationally acknowledged documentary filmmakers S. Dehnhardt, C. Deick, M. Oldenburg and J. Muellner, whose in-depth reports on World War II and the Nazi era confirm their expertise in this domain. While the program reveals new historical facts, it addresses above all the viewer's heart, and not only his mind. Individual destinies hold center stage, as survivors from both sides describe their harrowing experiences and provide some of the last eyewitness accounts that will ever be recorded. Gripping reports from people close to the centers of power alternate with these moving testimonies. Particularly chilling are excerpts from 8 mm films shot by soldiers during the siege. Russian archives opened their doors to the filmmakers, granting them exclusive access to documents and rare footage of Stalingrad. 3-D animation visualized the strategic development of the battle and archival film was digitally restored for this trilogy and scanned in HD with some coloration of the black & white material.

Sebastian Dehnhardt was born in 1968 and has been working as a freelance writer for various broadcasters since 1992. In addition to various advertisements and cultural series (Theaterlandschaften, 2002), he is also active in documentaries. His films include: Hitlers Helfer - Hess, der Stellvertreter (1996), Vatikan - Die Macht der Paepste: J. Paul I (1997), Hitlers Helfer - Freisler, der Hinrichter (1998), Apokalypse Vietnam (1999), Die Vertriebenen - Flucht (2001), and Stalingrad (2003), among others.
 

Genre History
Category Documentary TV
Year of Production 2003
Director Sebastian Dehnhardt
Screenplay Sebastian Dehnhardt, Christian Deick, Joerg Muellner, Manfred Oldenburg
Director of Photography Peer Horstmann
Editor Guido Knopp
Music by Enjott Schneider
Producer Leopold Hoesch
Production Company Broadview.TV/Cologne
Length 156 min
Format color, b&w, HDTV, 16:9
Original Version German
Sound Technology Stereo
Festival Screenings New York 2003
With backing from MEDIA, CoboFund Holland

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