The Adventures of Prince Achmed
(Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed)
Screening on Film
$12 Special Event Tickets
Germany, 1926, 35mm, black & white, silent, 65 min.
The earliest known surviving animated feature, Reiniger’s sublimely rendered silhouette puppet film features breathtakingly complex and enchanting animation. Based on tales from The One Thousand and One Nights, The Adventures of Prince Achmed depicts the exploits of a young prince and his flying horse. Reiniger imbues her figures with subtle yet incredibly evocative movement, lending her minutely detailed silhouettes an incredible expressivity. Working with animator Bertold Bartosch and background artist Walter Ruttman for three years in an improvised studio, Reiniger intentionally chose to animate stories that could not be told on film any other way, resulting in fantastical and imaginative animation that juxtaposes the delicacy of her figures with the physicality of their movements.