INTERVIEW: Director explores modern reactions to propaganda films

Felix Moeller, director of the new documentary Forbidden Films, takes audience members on an international journey to answer some difficult questions about German film history during the time of the Third Reich. Exploring the reaction to more than 40 Nazi-produced films banned in Germany, the director talks to scholars, historians, moviegoers and Holocaust survivors on their views concerning these propaganda, hate-filled movies.

His findings are varied, and in a recent interview, Moeller said no “consensus” was found among those he featured in the film. Included among his interviewees are everyone from German film experts to a pair of neo-Nazis who do not show their face.

The genesis for Forbidden Films came after Moeller made a documentary about the anti-Semitic film, Jud Süss. In filming that movie, Moeller discovered the story of the other banned films and began asking questions. “I started to research and started the journey into this dark legacy of German film history,” he said recently during a phone interview.

Even among his fellow German filmmakers, he found a full spectrum of responses. Some people believe the films should remain banned; some believe the ban should be lifted and the movies taught as an historical lesson; others profiled in Forbidden Films believe there can be controlled viewings, where a scholar introduces the movie with some context and perhaps offers a Q&A afterward.

Forbidden Films will play New York City’s Film Forum Wednesday, May 13 through Tuesday, May 19. Admission is free, thanks to support from the Ostrovsky Family Foundation and Joan S. Constantiner Fund for Jewish and Holocaust Films. The film previously ran in the Big Apple at the New York Jewish Film Festival, plus it screened at Telluride.

Moeller said the propaganda was quite “sophisticated” for its time, exposing audiences to movies that were “very meticulously made.” Therein lies one of the many quandaries of whether to ban the films or not. Some audience members filmed by Moeller said the movies are still too dangerous.

One of the challenges of creating Forbidden Films was access to the archive and the deterioration of the films themselves. “It was not so easy to get access because some of the material was in bad condition,” Moeller said. “And of course we had to come to an agreement with the foundation who controls these films today. It’s not a state-owned foundation. It’s kind of outsourced by the state.”

It seemed extremely important for the director to convey the thoughts of Holocaust survivors as well. “As long as the Holocaust survivors are among us, we cannot show these films without any restrictions,” Moeller said, paraphrasing one side of a common argument. “They cannot be shown on television. This is one argument you hear a lot in Germany, so I wanted to include these Holocaust … survivors and hear what they had to say because in this group there is no consensus.”

After screenings of Forbidden Films, Moeller usually hears much debate. “And some think it’s more historical relic; some think [the] ban makes no sense,” he said. “Others think it[‘s] still a slow poison, still have subversive powers, too dangerous and a fragile situation in many European countries. … I don’t have an agenda myself promoting something. I want to let the experts speak, the people speak and hear the audience.”

Moeller worked for two years on the movie, and he said he’d like to move on to other subjects for future films. However, he recently found himself co-producer on a project that looked at the Paris occupation during World War II. “So it looks like I’m always involved in this part of history,” he said.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Forbidden Films begins its run at New York City’s Film Forum May 13. The documentary will be presented free of charge, thanks to the Ostrovsky Family Foundation and Joan S. Constantiner Fund for Jewish and Holocaust Films. Click here for more information.