Duerers Heritage (1996): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1996, Duerers Heritage is a documentary film directed by Lutz Dammbeck, running about 59 minutes.

What it’s about. Dammbeck, himself an alumnus of the Leipzig Academy for Graphic and Book Design, presents the origins of the new German realism developed by the so-called Leipzig School, which took place in the context of socialist-realist dogma in the GDR before the Wall was built in 1961. After the Wall came down in 1989, what happened to the major Leipzig School painters Werner Tübke and Bernhard Heisig, who had been called “Dürer’s red heirs” by West German journalists in the 1970s? In the film, Tübke, Heisig, and former GDR officials who were involved with the cultural scene in Leipzig at the time talk about modernism, conformism, political pressure, party discipline, personal claims, and fading memory. The documentary paints an insightful, often critical picture of early East German art history.

Who’s in it. Duerers Heritage stars Bernhard Heisig as Bernhard Heisig, Sonja Kurella as Sonja Kurella, Werner Tübke as Werner Tübke and Heinrich Witz as Heinrich Witz.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Duerers Heritage page.

If you liked it. Fans of Duerers Heritage tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.