Gottfried Kolditz was born in Altenbach in 1922 and died in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1982. He worked as an assistant at the city theater while studying German literature at the University of Leipzig. He then worked as a director at various theaters in Dresden, Chemnitz, and Rostock. In 1955, he became an operatic technical adviser at the DEFA Feature Film Studios, where he worked on productions like Tzar and Carpenter and Mazurka of Love. The first film he directed on his own was the short film Dance in the Gallery (1957). Kolditz started his series of music films with The Beautiful Lurette. He also became known for his westerns and for science-fiction films. His film Signals - An Outerspace Adventure has been described as the East German answer to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (USA/UK 1965/68).

Filmography (Selection)

Dance in the Gallery (Tanz in der Galerie) 1957; The Young Englishman (Der junge Englaender) 1958; Simplon Tunnel (Simplon-Tunnel) 1959; Beautiful Lurette (Die schoene Lurette) 1960; The Golden Tent (Die goldene Jurte) 1961, co-directed with Rabschaa Dordschpalam; Snow White (Schneewittchen) 1961; Midnight Revue (Revue um Mitternacht) 1962; Mistress Holle (Frau Holle) 1963; Beloved White Mouse (Geliebte weisse Maus) 1964; The Falcon's Trail (Spur des Falkons) 1968; Signals - An Outerspace Adventure (Signale-Ein Weltraumabenteuer) 1970; Apaches (Apachen) 1973; Ulzana (Ulzana) 1974; In the Dust of the Stars (Im Staub der Sterne) 1976; The Thing in the Castle (Das Ding im Schloss) 1979.