ABSTRACT
During a period when there was a distinct absence of women directors mak ing fiims at the DEFA,1 Helke Misselwitz was one of the few women to make an impact. She achieved an international breakthrough with her black-andwhite documentary Winter Ade (Winter Farewell, 1988), which received the Silver Dove at the Leipzig Documentary Film Festival. This was followed by her first feature film, Herzsprung (Heart Leap, 1992), which appeared after the reunification of Germany in 1989 and was made in co-production with a revamped DEFA and the German television channel ZDF. Her persever ance in studying film (she had failed the entrance exam the first time be cause, in the political discussion portion of the test, she had said nothing) reveals her tenacity. She resisted and took on the task of criticizing the re gime and the social conditions that made life especially difficult for women in the former GDR.
