Qingyang Freya Zhou was awarded the 2025 DEFA Film Library Graduate Student Essay Prize for her paper “Socialist Brotherhood on Eurasian Peripheries: Cinematic Solidarity Between East Germany and North Korea.”
In their congratulatory letter, the selection committee wrote:
“In Freya’s thoroughly researched paper, she analyzes the ‘cinematic solidarity’ between East Germany and North Korea—two countries on the ‘Eurasian peripheries’—through the comparative lens of two lesser-known DEFA films. She demonstrates that the interactions between these two societies were ‘shaped by colonial legacies, racial tensions, and sexualized appropriation.’ A thematic highlight of the paper is her compelling analysis of the complex relationships among the film archives of the GDR and North Korea. We commend her for the clear structure of her work and the compelling presentation of her arguments and wide-reaching research.”
Freya presented a shorter version of this paper at the 2025 German Studies Association Conference (September 25–28, Arlington, VA) on her organized panel, “Kin-Aesthetics in Transnational German Film and Media,” moderated by Professor Nicholas Baer. In addition, she served as a discussant on the roundtable “Researching Asian German Film and Media” and as one of eight invited speakers at the GSA’s annual Food for Thought luncheon.
University of Massachusetts Amherst, DEFA Film Library: https://www.umass.edu/defa/projects/special-events/38246/