Ute Wölfel

Dr. Ute Wölfel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures at the University of Reading, where she also serves as the Departmental Director of Admissions. Her academic work centers on German cinema and literature, with a focus on the 20th century, particularly post-war and GDR contexts.

Her research interests include: History of German Cinema, War Film, 20th Century German Literature, Exile Literature, and GDR Studies. She explores themes of trauma, memory, identity, and cultural representation, especially through child figures, gender roles, and political ideologies in film and prose.

The analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent engagement with post-war German cultural memory, particularly how cinema and literature represent trauma, betrayal, and reconstruction. Her work spans from Weimar-era films to contemporary German cinema, with a strong emphasis on DEFA productions, 'rubble films,' and moral transgression in war narratives.

Dr. Wölfel actively supervises postgraduate research students. Her current and completed supervisions include:

• Salwa Alelyani: The Translation of Saudi Films in the Era of Saudi ‘Vision 2030’
• Richard McKenzie: The Misogyny of the Trümmerfilm - Space and Gender in Post-War German Film (2017)
• Caroline Rowan-Olive: Cultural Memory and Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung in Christa Wolf’s Prose Works (2020)

She is affiliated with the East German Studies Archive at the University of Reading, contributing to the preservation and scholarly engagement with GDR cultural materials.