Biography:

Lothar Barke was born in Berlin on January 20, 1926. He was a German animation designer, director, scriptwriter and co-founder of the DEFA Studio for Animation Films in Dresden.

In 1948, Barke joined the animation class at the Meisterschule für das Kunsthandwerk Berlin-Charlottenburg (Master School for Arts and Craftmanship). Only two years later, he started his career at the DEFA Studios designing titles for the opening credits. From 1952 to 1954, he was the head designer at the animation department at the DEFA Studio for Popular Science Films. During this tenure, he als wrote the screenplay for a satirical short film called Katzenmusik (Caterwauling) and directed, edited, co-designed and co-animated the first DEFA animation film ever made and released into cinemas in 1954. The short, produced by the DEFA Studio for Popular Science Films, is an entertaining look at fans and opponents of American music styles. The film fueled a debate about a generation gap in the GDR.

Barke, together with other directors, including Kurt Weiler and Otto Sacher, was one of the founding members of the DEFA Studio for Animation Films in Dresden in 1955 with the mission of reviving the German animation film traditions.

In the following years, Lothar Barke became known for his brilliantly narrated film adaptations of children's books and classic fairy tales, including the award-winning film Alarm im Kasperletheater (Alarm at the Puppet Theater, 1960), about a greedy little devil who steals donuts and Der fliegende Großvater (The Flying Grandfather, 1964), about a grandfather and has grandson building a kite that takes them up into the sky. 

At the end of the 1970s, Barke teamed up with the Chilean artists Juan Forch, Hernando León and Vivienne Barry, all living in East German exile, and created Rosaura (1978), an experimental poetic hymn pledging for humanity.

Barke’s remarkable drawing talent and his feeling for movement, made him one of the leading animation directors at the DEFA Studio. His highly imaginative films present a lively, figurative animation in the tradition of Soviet animation and American Disney tradition at the time. Barke worked as an animator and director until the DEFA Studio for Animation Films was closed in 1991. 

Lothar Barke died in Dresden on November 4, 2010.