Biography:

Katja Georgi was born in Lengefeld, Germany, on August 28, 1928. After graduating from extended secondary school, she joined the Leipzig School for Translation at the Leipzig University. And in 1949, she started a study as a potter at the Institut für künstlerische Werkgestaltung in Halle (now: University for Art and Design Halle), where she also met the man who would become her husband, the animation director Klaus Georgi.

Starting in 1953, Katja Georgi became a member of the graphic artist group Wir Fünf (We Five), which also included animation artists Klaus Georgi, Otto Sacher, Helmut Barkowsky, Christl Wiemer and Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, who all became very influential in East German animation filmmaking. The group began working at the DEFA Studio for Popular Science Films in 1954 and produced, among others, the children’s cartoon Die Geschichte vom Sparschweinchen (The Story of the Little Piggy Bank, 1954), in which Katja Georgi is credited as a narrator. One year later, the group was prominent in founding the DEFA Studio for Animated Films in Dresden. Katja Georgi initially wrote scenarios and scripts, including the 1958 cartoon Blaue Mäuse gibt es nicht (dir. Klaus Georgi) which initially was not approved and only released after severe edits.

In 1959, Katja Georgi debuted as a director with the puppet film and fairytale adaptation Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse. She felt particularly influenced by the Czechoslovakian animation artists Jiří Trnka and Hermína Týrlová. Georgi became a specialist in puppet animation and her works, Das Myrtenfräulein and Das Feuer des Faust, are masterpieces of puppet animation and screened at international festivals.

Katja Georgi’s name is credited to almost 40 DEFA productions and in addition to puppet animation, she ventured into different animation techniques and topics as a director and scriptwriter. She also made several political animated films, including Die Musici, which is directed against the philistine bourgeoisie, and the Hitler satire Guten Tag, Herr H.

In the late 1980, Georgi worked on the Kinderlieder (Children’s Songs) series adapting four famous songs into animation works. Earlier in her career, she also took on one installment of DEFA’s famous Filopat & Patafil series that was originally created by Günter Rätz. However, when the series became successful, Rätz got a large team of animation directors involved in the production.

Georgi did not only collaborate with her husband at the beginning of her time working at the DEFA Studio, they also teamed up on projects throughout her years there. The Georgis' joint film project with Soviet animators, directors Fyodor Khitruk and Vadim Kurchevsky, Ein junger Mann namens Engels - Ein Porträt in Briefen, which deals with the philosopher and political theorist Friedrich Engels, was a great international success. The cartoon and cutout animation was officially selected for the 1972 Viennale in Austria and won the 1970 Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig.

In 1989, Katja Georgi and her husband moved to West Germany, but returned after twelve years to Saxony. However, she never produced another animation film after 1988.

Katja Georgi, who was also the vice president of ASIFA (International Animation Film Association) from 1977 to 1981, died on March 28, 2022.

Festivals & Awards:

Bibliography & More:

Rasche, Marion. “Katja Georgi – Bis heute träume ich hin und wieder davon, dass ich gerade einen Film mache.” Sie – Regisseurinnen der DEFA und ihre Filme. Bertz + Fischer Verlag, 2019, pp. 115-121.

Tröger, Tanja. “Animationsfilm-Regisseurin Katja Georgi verstorben.” https://www.diaf.de/personalie/animationsfilm-regisseurin-katja-georgi-verstorben/. Accessed 3 July 2025.