About us...

Importing Asta Nielsen Database (IANDb) stores all available data on the global distribution and exhibition of the 27 long feature films starring Asta Nielsen that were released before the First World War. The database is designed to become the tool for international research into the making of the first international film star, nearly unrivalled in many countries in the years 1911 and 1912. This topic is crucial for the emergence of cinema as the leading entertainment medium in the first half of the 20th century.

Importing Asta Nielsen Database (IANDb) is closely connected with the research project “Asta Nielsen - the International Film Star and the Emergence of the Star System 1911 to 1914”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2018 to 2021 and carried out by Philipps University Marburg and University of Trier. This project takes Asta Nielsen, the first international film star of the long feature film, as an exemplary case to study the media transition from the program of shorts to feature film exhibition. In May 1911, a groundbreaking business model was contracted in Frankfurt that included blind and block booking, exclusive exhibition rights, and the use of the film star as a branding strategy: thus, it anticipated the international star system of the following decades. The main goal of the project is to retrieve the facts & figures of the marketing campaigns of the Asta Nielsen Series during the seasons 1911/12, 1912/13 and 1913/14 on the home markets Germany and Austria-Hungary as well as on the foreign markets Great Britain and Australia.

Importing Asta Nielsen Database (IANDb) emerged from the international conference "Importing Asta Nielsen - Cinema-going and the Making of the Star System in the Early 1910s" that took place at the German Film Museum in Frankfurt, 27 to 29 September 2011, hosted by Deutsches Filminstitut and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the University of Trier. The proceedings are published in: Martin Loiperdinger and Uli Jung (eds): Importing Asta Nielsen - The International Film Star in the Making 1910-1914. KINtop Studies in Early Cinema vol 2. New Barnet: John Libbey Publishing, 2013. (for distribution in North America and Asia and for distribution in Europe.)

Importing Asta Nielsen Database (IANDb) includes texts and advertisements published worldwide in the trade press and the local press until the end of the year 1915 on Asta Nielsen films and on individuals involved in the production, distribution, exhibition, and reception of the 27 long feature films released before the First World War that star Asta Nielsen in the lead role.

The database provides a wide range of options to access printed sources from many countries. Users may start their research into the database from different points of interest: They may search for film titles (original titles or distribution titles in a certain country), for specific dates (e.g. a certain programming season or month) or localities (cities, countries). Also articles on Asta Nielsen’s screen personality and on individuals involved in the production, distribution, and exhibition of Asta Nielsen films are searchable.

Users are invited to contribute texts and advertisements to the database. The copies of the texts and advertisements must be legible, at least. Any item sent to us for publication should clearly indicate the source.

This is EDITION 06 of the database, dated 2018-05-01. Contents and contributors are listed in Content. Users will also find a current and continually updated bibliography on the worldwide distribution and exhibition of all Asta Nielsen films released before the First World War.

Philipps Universitaet Marburg Universitaet Trier Freundeskreis Uni Trier Deutsches Filminstitut Filmmuseum KINTop