 Pehnert's time in office saw an exodus of national stars such as Manfred Krug after the government stripped Wolf Biermann of his citizenship and expelled him from the country.He presided over the ban in 1981 on the film "Jadup und Boel" by Rainer Simon, over the temporary closing down of the documentary film studio of and , and over the blocking in 1988 of critical Glasnost inspired Soviet films.On a more positive note, successful films of the period included "Solo Sunny" (Wolf and Kohlhaase, 1980), "Die Verlobte" (Günther Rücker, 1980) and "Die Beunruhigung" (Lothar Warneke, 1981).