Carl Koch (director)

Carl Koch, also spelled Karl Koch, was a German art historian, film director and writer, born on 30 July 1892 in Nümbrecht and died on 1 December 1963 in Barnet, England. He is best remembered as the husband and long-term collaborator of the silhouette animator Lotte Reiniger, whose films he often served behind the camera: he handled much of the camera work, which was mounted above her animation table, on productions such as The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). Before he met Reiniger he made films for museums about art history and other educational subjects. In the 1930s he became an assistant to Jean Renoir, who helped the couple obtain exit visas from Germany in 1936. Koch worked on La Grande Illusion, where he also took an uncredited role, and in 1939 he and Renoir began an adaptation of Tosca at Mussolini's invitation; Koch completed it under the name Carlo Koch with Luchino Visconti assisting. In 1949 he and Reiniger moved to England and settled in the Abbey Arts Centre in New Barnet, where they made thirteen silhouette films for television.