Rolf Sperling (cameraman)

Rolf Sperling is a German cameraman who is best known for DEFA cartoons and documentaries .

Rolf Sperling was one of the founders of the Dresden animation studio of DEFA, where he began with “Peterchen's Moon Ride” in the late 1940s. While Gerhard Behrendt was responsible for the puppet design and dramaturgy, Sperling took over the technical construction of the studio for animation film recordings. In the 1950s, Sperling worked as a cameraman with Walter Heynowski on the German television network and designed forms of film tricks with caricaturists , the development of which later shaped the style of Heynowski's work. In 1958 they went on a filming trip to the United Arab Emirates to report on political cartoons there. In 1959, a mocking foreign feature of the two appeared about Charles de Gaulle in the National Council elections in France in 1958, which was characterized as a candidate for big business. Sperling also worked on Heynowski's first documentary "Mord in Lwow". From 1962 to 1971, Sperling directed the animated series "Facts and Figures", which highlighted the economic and scientific achievements of the GDR .

Filmography (selection)

1953: The stumbling block
1953: The matchstick ballad
1953: Mrs. Holle
1954: Blind alert
1954: Till Eulenspiegel and the Braunschweig baker
1955: Till Eulenspiegel as a tower keeper
1955: The forgotten doll
1955: Blind alert
1956: Schnaken und Schnurren - The hollow tooth / The sliding part
1956: The emperor's new clothes
1958: Round-the-clock ringing
1958: Middle East unveiled
1958: Political Poem
1958: A nice mess
1959: The eyewitness 1959 / A 67
1959: How are you, Marianne
1959: Oops, now comes Willy!
1959: Geneva selection
1961: Aktion J - A film of evidence
1961: The anatomy of Dr. A.
1961: The snow storm
1967: Facts and Figures - Tree of Life

Awards

1960: Heinrich Greif Prize 1st class with the collective "Kabale und Liebe" for the documentary "Mord in Lwow"
1967: National Prize for Art and Literature III. Class with the collective of the television documentary "Fighters and Winners"
1968: Silver Dove of the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film for "Facts and Figures - Tree of Life"

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Eulenspiegel, Berliner Verlag., 1972, p. 62
^ Jörg Herrmann: Die Trick-Fabrik: DEFA animation films 1955-1990 . Bertz, 2003, p. 76
^ Rüdiger Steinmetz: Documentary between evidence and pamphlet: Heynowski & Scheumann and the Katins group . Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2002, p. 20ff
^ Ralf Forster, Jens Thiel: The Federal Republic in the political animation of GDR television until 1961 . German Institute for Animated Film. FILMBLATT 17, 6th JG, 2001, pp. 24-40
^ DEFA Chronicle for 1960 , February
^ DEFA chronicle for 1967 . October 6th
^ Winner of the DEFA Studios at the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week for Cinema and Television 1955-1990

personal data
SURNAME	Sperling, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German cameraman
DATE OF BIRTH	20th century

[1] Eulenspiegel, Berliner Verlag., 1972, p. 62

[2] Jörg Herrmann: Die Trick-Fabrik: DEFA animation films 1955-1990 . Bertz, 2003, p. 76

[3] Rüdiger Steinmetz: Documentary between evidence and pamphlet: Heynowski & Scheumann and the Katins group . Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2002, p. 20ff

[4] Ralf Forster, Jens Thiel: The Federal Republic in the political animation of GDR television until 1961 . German Institute for Animated Film. FILMBLATT 17, 6th JG, 2001, pp. 24-40

[5] DEFA Chronicle for 1960 , February

[6] DEFA chronicle for 1967 . October 6th

[7] Winner of the DEFA Studios at the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week for Cinema and Television 1955-1990