The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) by Lotte Reininger
I was actually introduced to this film for the first time in middle school. It captivated me from the intricate details of the paper puppets to how expressive the movements and story telling was. I also love Reininger’s use of color and the style of the puppets themselves.
Introduction:
- The Adventures of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reininger is a retelling of one story from a collection of Middle Eastern folktales called, “One Thousand and One Nights”
Elements I will be researching/talking about
- The influence of the Bauhaus movement and Chinese puppet theater on Reininger’s work
- Her early career – pre-animation
- Public response to the film as well as current political events
- Reininger’s style – expressionism vs realism
- Distributor issues
- Her contribution to innovations in the multiplane camera and cel animation
- led to the multiplane camera, solidified by Disney
