Imperial Projections

Wolfgang Fuhrmann teaches film at the University of Zurich’s Department of Film Studies. From 2005–2008 he was Director of the DFG Research Project “Film and Ethnography in Germany 1900–1930,” and has held teaching positions in Germany, Switzerland, and the Americas. He has published on German colonial cinema, early ethnographic filmmaking, historical film reception, and transnational film history.

“One cannot rank the significance of Fuhrmann’s book as a model of German film historiography highly enough. Not only does Imperial Projection offer the first convincing overall overview of a forgotten and suppressed chapter of German film history; the book makes also clear what a modern, methodologically innovative and empirically supported film historiography is capable of achieving.” · H-Soz-Kult“Woldgang Fuhrmann succeeds with this impressive overview of German colonial film, largely neglected in the scholarly literature, to present convincingly the interaction of individual protagonists with various institutions. The bibliography conveys the depth of his research that can be considered exemplary. This also applies to the filmography that will inspire future research. The few illustrations are well selected and expressive.” · Filmblatt“A handful of black-and-white photographs, notes, a bibliography and an index round out this thoughtful historical analysis, especially recommended for college library Theatre/Cinema and World History collections.” · Midwest Book Review“Imperial Projections is a pioneering exploration of the intersection of early film history, the study of popular visual culture, and German colonial history in the years before the First World War... By showing that colonial images could, and did, mean different things to different people, Imperial Projections offers a refreshing rethinking of monolithic terms such as ‘the colonial gaze’ or ‘the imperialist imagination.’” · Christian Rogowski, Amherst College“[This book] is of exceptional academic quality, impeccably researched, and presented with great thoroughness. It appears to me that it is the definitive work of research on early German colonial cinema to date, and probably destined to remain so.” · Francis Gooding, Colonial Film: Moving Images of British Empire

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroductionPART I: THE BEGINNING OF COLONIAL FILM CULTURE IN IMPERIAL GERMANYChapter 1. From the Variety Theatre to the German Colonial SocietyChapter 2. Carl Müller: A Colonial Film MakerChapter 3. The DKG’s Film Shows: The Colonies in MotionPART II: ADDRESSING THE MASSESChapter 4. The ‘Hottentot Election’ of 1907Chapter 5. The DKG’s KinematographenkampagneChapter 6. Rise and Fall of the KinemtographenkampagnePART III: ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING IN THE COLONIESChapter 7. Karl Weule in German East AfricaChapter 8. The Expedition in Context: Modern German EthnographyChapter 9. Filming in the Colonies: Training and ImprovisationPART IV: TOURISM, ENTERTAINMENT, AND COLONIAL IDEOLOGYChapter 10. Colonial Films in Public CinemaChapter 11. The Colonial TravelogueChapter 12. Colonial Films in Transition: Robert Schumann’s ComebackPART V: COLONIAL FILM PROPAGANDA DURING THE FIRST WORLD WARChapter 13. Setting Up Colonial War PropagandaChapter 14. The Deutsche Kolonial-Filmgesellschaft (DEUKO)ConclusionFilmographyBibliographyIndex