DFG Project Jewish Film Heritage between Cultural Practices and Memory Institutions (2026–2028)

Culture and Language, European-Jewish History

Principal Investigators: PD Dr. Anna-Dorothea Ludewig (MMZ), Dr. Ulrike Schneider (University of Potsdam), and Dr. Lea Wohl von Haselberg (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF).
The project is part of the DFG Priority Programme 2357: Jewish Cultural Heritage.

The Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies (MMZ), together with the University of Potsdam (Institute for Jewish Studies and Religious Studies) and the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, continues its research on Jewish Film Heritage. Funded within the DFG Priority Programme Jewish Cultural Heritage, the project Jewish Film Heritage between Cultural Practices and Memory Institutions builds directly on the preceding project Jewish Film Heritage (2022–2025) and extends the foundational research in close exchange with film and cultural heritage institutions, filmmakers, and audiences.

The project pursues three overarching objectives:

To explore the autonomy of Jewish Film Heritage in its dual relevance as both film and as a source of Jewish history and experience, and to examine the various approaches to working with this heritage from artistic, academic, and museological/archival perspectives.

To identify, preserve, and study marginalized memories and endangered film collections, and to make them accessible for scholarship across disciplines.

To integrate this secured Jewish Film Heritage into a living (Jewish) film culture by means of participatory formats such as a Jewish Home Movie Day, thereby presenting it to a broader public.

This interdisciplinary research project consists of three subprojects:

Jewish Home Movies. Amateur Films in Jewish Museum Collections (MMZ)
This subproject investigates previously unexplored amateur films preserved in Jewish museum collections (Berlin, Frankfurt/Main). Plans include digitization, content-based analysis, and the development of new concepts for archiving and public engagement. The Jewish Home Movie Day will establish a participatory format linking Jewish contemporary culture, family history, and film heritage.

Heritage Journey Films (University of Potsdam)
This subproject analyzes feature and documentary films dealing with “heritage journeys.” The focus lies on how memory, belonging, and cultural heritage are negotiated on screen – both within Jewish communities and in dialogue with majority societies. Exchange formats with filmmakers are also planned.

Artistic Research on and with Jewish Film Heritage (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)
Two artistic fellowships combine scholarly reflection with artistic practice. Found footage, archival materials, and questions of memory culture will be explored through artistic processes. The first fellowship will be undertaken by filmmaker Yael Reuveny.

A shared thematic focus across all three subprojects is family archives and family memory captured in moving images. Despite their diverse methods and perspectives, the projects all highlight the significance of family films as Jewish film heritage.

Further information:
https://spp-juedisches-kulturerbe.de/en/juedisches-filmerbe-zwischen-kultureller-praxis-und-gedaechtnisinstitutionen-en/