ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the best-known German film society, the socialist Volksfilmverband (People’s Film Association, VFV, founded in 1928) in the context of agitational culture in the turbulent years of the late Weimar Republic. The chapter argues that the VFV—which arose simultaneously with analogous left-wing film societies in London, Paris, Amsterdam, New York and other cities—was the first to solidify a pervasive view of cinema as “mass medium,” understood in terms of its ability to impact the social and political outlook of the masses. Under this rubric, the chapter examines the ways this group sought to inculcate a habitus of suspicion among the cinema-going public (which would resist film’s seductive power), as well as the group’s links to other left-wing institutions, particularly in journalism.
