the film Ernst Thälmann – Sohn seiner Klasse directed by Kurt Maetzig. He completed another internship as an assistant director for a film adapted from the opera Zar und Zimmermann and directed by Hans Müller. In his fourth year of studies, in 1957, he worked as an assistant director for Kurt Maetzig's two part film Schlösser und Katen with a special permission of his university. In 1957 he graduated from FAMU with the anti-war film Zwei Mütter. Based on a screenplay by Leonie Ossowski, his diploma film tells the story of a French and a German mother that fight for a child that has been mistakenly taken by the German after a bomb raid. The film had a theatrical release and became a success. Beyer at the DEFA studios (1957–1967) After graduation Frank Beyer worked as a freelancer for the DEFA studios. He had declined an offer for a permanent position as an assistant director, as he would have been assigned to film projects and would not have had the freedom to choose. He started his directorial career with two short films in the satirical film series Das Stacheltier. His second feature film Eine alte Liebe based on a story by Werner Reinowski and released in 1958 did not follow the success of his directorial debut Zwei Mütter. His third feature film Five Cartridges released in 1960 was a major critical and popular success and made him known in East Germany and abroad. The film was based on a screenplay by Walter Gorrish and tells the story of the members of an international brigade during the Spanish Civil War. He continued to direct films that focused on anti-fascist themes. The 1962 film Star-Crossed Lovers was again based on a screenplay by Walter Gorrish and told the story of the antifascist activist Michael who has to serve in a penal military unit on the Eastern Front during World War II, and escapes with the help of his childhood friend Jürgen. Deserting to the Red army he hopes to meet his childhood friend and love Magdalena in Moscow, as she had fled from Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union. The experimental film made extensive use of flashbacks and extreme angles of view to express the emotions of the characters. His next project was the 1963 film Naked Among Wolves based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Bruno Apitz. The