Dietmar Ratsch was born in Soltau on March 25th 1970. Between 1995 and 2000, he studied at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. He graduated with "Eislimonade für Hong Li", a documentary about photographer Thomas Billhardt, who after 30 years returns to Vietnam to organize an exhibition of his war-time pictures. The following years, Ratsch mainly worked as DoP on several documentaries.

In 2002, he and partner Arek Gielnik founded the production company Indi Film GmbH in Ludwigsburg. Under the new moniker, he worked as director, author and cinematographer on the documentary "Landliebe" (2003) which depicts the struggle of young idealistic farmers, and also completed "Richter lebenslänglich", a look into the everyday life of three judges. At the 2010 Berlinale, Ratsch and co-director Agostino Imondi presented their documentary "Neukölln Unlimited". The film about a group of adolescents who live in the titular, often stigmatised district of Berlin was awarded the Glass Bear in the "14plus" section of the festival.