On the Wrong Side of History: Towards a New Approach to Ostalgie Cinema

The articel argues that an interdisciplinary phenomenological approach based on the understanding of nostalgic historical experience by Frank Ankersmit can be helpful in the critical analysis of emotionally and aesthetically charged cinematic phenomena like ostalgie. On the example of the film KUNDSCHAFTER DES FRIEDENS / OLD AGENT MEN (Robert Thalheim, 2017) the essay discusses how the analysis of the specificity of ostalgie film can contribute further to a more complex understanding of German films about the GDR past.