Fee Vaillant

Materials that the Kinemathek took over in 2009, 2011 and 2021 came from Vaillant’s daughter Barbara Dreyer. They relate mainly to aspects of the history of the Film-Club-Verband since 1946, including minutes from meetings, subject-related materials on film club conferences, newsletters, press materials and correspondence (with Josef von Sternberg, Luis Bunuel, Jean Renoir, Johannes Eckardt, among others). Two address books (one international and one for Germany) illustrate the professional network of an association functionary and film festival director working during the second half of the 20th century. Vaillant’s committee work is documented in numerous photographs taken at events, such as the award ceremony for the Kurzfilmpreis (Short Film Award) in Mannheim in 1964 or the retrospective on Soviet film of the 1930s held in Bad Ems (Rhineland) in 1966. The holdings are enhanced with production photos and a mimeographed script of Ferdinand Khittl’s ‘Die Parallelstraße’ (1962), as well as portrait photos by István Szabó and Vadim Glowna. Vaillant was unable to realize a publication she had planned on the history of the German film club. Preparatory work on it can be found among the inventory. Vaillant had correspondence with Fritz Lang in her possession and lecture notes that he wrote himself, but these items are not among the diverse materials that make up this archive. (Text: Rolf Aurich)