Rasche, Marion

(c) DIAF/Troeger
Biography:
Marion Rasche was born in Spremberg in 1944. She began to paint and design fabric patterns when she was very young. She studied drama and philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin, before starting at the DEFA Studio for Animation Films in 1976. There she worked as a dramaturg, including for directors Otto Sacher and Lutz Dammbeck.
In 1981, Rasche became chief dramaturg at the Animation Studio, and later also took over the role of artistic director (1988-1991). In this capacity, she was responsible not only for script development, but also for the films’ visual design. This allowed her to both explore her interest in painting and invite young freelance artists, including Andreas Dress and Helge Leiberg, to participate in collaborations. Rasche opened the studio to several painters and graphic artists who gave the animated film new artistic forms and languages.
For example, in 1989, Rasche adapted one of Friedrich Wolf’s animal stories by Friedrich Wolf into a short animation film, Der lange Weg (1989), for which painter Andres Dress created the backgrounds and the characters.
When the studio was closed, Rasche lost her job along with other employees. Since 1992, she has been doing freelance work for television productions, including portraits of the painters A. R. Penck (1992), Georg Baselitz (1999) and Achim Freyer (2014).
In 2012, Marion Rasche curated the exhibition Ausflug zum Film – Malerei, Graphik und DEFA-Filmbilder (An Excursion to Film – Painting, Graphic Art and DEFA Film Images) that opened at the Pirna Museum. The exhibition presented works by nine artists, who briefly worked at the DEFA Studio for Animation Films, including Andreas Dress, Lutz Dammbeck, Achim Freyer, Helge Leiberg, Maja Nagel, Gerd Mackensen, Ulrich Lindner, Gudrun Trendafilov and Jürgen Böttcher.
Marion Rasche, who received the 2019 DEFA Award for Lifetime Achievements in German Film, lives in Dresden.
Bibliography & More:
Richter, Annegret. "The Woman Who Made Things Possible," translated by Hasret Eleby. Sie: Regisseurinnen der DEFA und ihre Filme. Berlin: Bertz + Fischer, 2020.
Schenk, Ralf and Sabine Scholze. Die Trick-Fabrik. Berlin: Bertz + Fischer, 2003.
Filmography:
2005 | Da wundert sich das Dresdner Huhn (The Dresden Chicken Is Puzzled) |
2001 | Das schöne Fräulein von Wachs (The Beautiful Miss Made of Wax) |
2001 | Georg Baselitz trifft Goerg Kern (Georg Baselitz Meets Georg Kern, TV) |
1998 | Commercialisable |
1996 | Der Tangokönig (The Tango King, TV) |
1995 | Der Tanzmeister lässt bitten (The Dancing Master Asks the Pleasure, TV) |
1994 | Zeit der Schatten (Time of the Shadows, TV) |
1992 | Vor allem aber bin ich Nomade – A.R. Penck (Above All I am a Nomad: A.R. Penck, TV) |
1991 | Der rote Punkt (The Red Dot, TV) |
1990 | Hans im Glück (Hans in Luck, TV) |
1989 | Der lange Weg (The Long Way) |
1989 | Reisen ist schön (Nice to Travel) |
1987 | Sisyphos (Sisyphus) |
1986 | Die Flut (The Flood) |
1983 | Die Entdeckung (The Discovery) |
1983 | Copyright by Luther |
1983 | Autotraum (Car Dream) |
1981 | Einmart |
1980 | Sieben Rechte des Zuschauers (Seven Rights of a Viewer) |
1980 | Knurri und der Eierdieb (Knurri and the Egg Thief) |
1978 | Lebe! (Live!) |
1978 | Am Fenster (City – At the Window) |
1978 | Rosaura |
1977 | Lautaro |