'Quod non est in Berolina, non est in mundo': Views from the periphery

Abstract

The historiography of Weimar cinema has focused almost exclusively on film production and exhibition in the German capital Berlin, generally neglecting other geographic regions, in particular the Rhineland which, after the First World War, remained under Allied control until the mid-1920s for some parts, for others even longer. This contribution analyses the situation in Düsseldorf, a film distribution hub that was occupied by Belgian and French troops until 1925, based mainly on reports in the trade press and documents issued by the Allied High Commission. The perspective from the periphery makes it possible to ‘provincialise Weimar cinema’ both geographically and by shifting the emphasis from films and production companies, which dominate German cinema historiography, to distribution and exhibition.