On 12 February 1912, a Danish actress travelled to the countryside: to Nowawes near Babelsberg. She was just beginning to get used to being successful and idolised, the darling of the seething metropolis Berlin. Technicians and actors were waiting for her, the erotic, exotic woman, and above all: For her, a kind of palm tree house had been built using new construction methods, so as much light as possible would fall on her slender figure, because Asta Nielsen was the big attraction of a new line of business.
90 years later – the glass house is gone, the brick house, which belongs to the ORB, is still there – another woman, Gabriela Bacher, producer and business manager, tries her luck with Studio Babelsberg.
Over nine decades, more than 3000 feature and television films were created here, produced by the companies Bioscop, Decla, Ufa, DEFA, Studio Babelsberg and ORB. Between the twenties and the middle of the last century, the Ufa and DEFA city was the largest film factory in Europe. At all times, the respective managements closely cooperated with powerful politicians and businessmen and were dependent on economic situations and historical circumstances. Films and actor idols from Babelsberg show what the audiences were longing for and what the producers expected success of.
At Babelsberg′s 90th anniversary, executives and employees are not really in a champagne mood, since it is still not guaranteed that the "Europäisches Medienzentrum" will stay. Will there be enough assignments for the media service business? Can it exist without making its own feature film productions? When will Babelsberg finally be in the black? What will become of the ORB? Apparently, one is saving the party for the 100th anniversary in 2012.
At least, a look back from 2002 can be guaranteed as Filmmuseum Potsdam has been devoting itself to the company and production history for 20 years. The museum, Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Progress Filmverleih GmbH, Filmverband Brandenburg e.V. and Brandenburgisches Literaturkollegium e.V. invite audiences to once more enjoy the films and meet the filmmakers on 30 film evenings between January and December 2002.

Dr. Bärbel Dalichow
Museum Director

Project development and coordination: Dorett Molitor