Presented in cooperation with Cinema Space
Director: Lotte Reiniger
Germany, 1926
66 min., b/w and colour
Screenplay: Lotte Reiniger (based on themes and motifs of Thousand and One Nights)
With “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” Lotte Reiniger created the first full-length feature animated film in the history of cinema. The technical and aesthetic aspects of this film genre had already been developed to cinematic perfection in the 20s. Her style continued the tradition of shadow plays performed in China, which she expanded through the technical possibilities offered by the cinema.
The film was the result of three years of a team work: Lotte Reiniger drew up the storyboard, cut out the figures and the background sceneries and designed the characters’ movements, with the assistance of Alexander Kardan and Walter Türk. Her husband Carl Koch functioned as location manager and supervised the technical aspects, Walther Ruttmann experimented with the possibilities of cinematic design and created the battle of the demons of Wak wak, and Berthold Bartosch constructed the movements of the waves for the storm at sea which the fleeing Aladdin gets caught in.
Synopsis:
On the day when in the city the birthday celebrations for the great caliph are being held, the powerful sorcerer appears and presents the marvel he has created: a horse that can fly through the skies. The caliph would like to have this magic horse by all means, but in exchange he is to give his charming daughter Dinarsade to the ugly sorcerer to be his wife. This angers Dinarsade’s brother Achmed, and he chases the intruder away. The sorcerer, however, finds a way of luring the prince onto the fateful horse. Thus begins Achmed’s adventurous journey.
Watch the trailer of “The adventures of Prince Ahmed”
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