This month’s cover image is a poster announcing the 1977 East German “Children’s Film Week” in the District of Gera, which was a part of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). The Deutsche Film--Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), the only film company in East Germany during its existence, produced the films for the event. The festival was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education. Although East German films are not well known in the United States, interest in them is building as a result of the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

The poster is part of the GDR Poster Archive in the Special Collections and Archives Department of George Mason University Libraries. The collection includes more than 7,000 posters from East German art, film, dance, music, political, and theater organizations. For more information on the collections held at George Mason University, please visit sca.gmu.edu