RIP Günter Rätz

 

East German director, writer, animator Günter Rätz died on May 1, 2024, in Dresden-Omsewitz Saxony, Germany. He was a month shy of turning 89. Born in Berlin on May 30, 1935, he was the son of a bricklayer but abandoned the profession of his father and worked as a puppeteer, discovered animation for himself in 1954 and thus came to the DEFA Studio for Animated Films in Dresden as early as 1955. In 1958 he completed the first of his more than 60 animated films. Rätz was responsible for the feature films “The Flying Windmill” (1981) and his only Euro-western “The Trail to the Silver Sea” (1987–1989), a Western satire that was awarded the "Golden Sparrow" in Gera in February 1991. Subsequently, Rätz wanted to film the Karl May novel “Unter Geiern” (Among Vultures) under the title "The Spirit of Llano Estacado"; the scenario was completed in June 1988. Filming began in the spring of 1990; the dialogues are recorded, and a song by the proven composer Arndt Bause is also played. After about 600 meters had already been filmed, the end follows. The work is abandoned due to lack of funds; around 600,000 marks from the film's budget were used to "clear the debt" of the DEFA animation studio during the monetary union.