Lotte Reiniger (1899–1981)

Who was Lotte Reiniger?

Lotte Reiniger was a pioneering animator, silhouette artist and expert, who was born in Berlin in 1899. Her pioneering technique of silhouette animation was used to create the earliest-surviving feature-length in animation history, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, in 1923-26. She also produced around sixty other silhoutte short films or sequences. Despite her incredible achievements, she has been undervalued within film history and remains an obscure figure in modern popular culture, most likely because of misconceptions around her gender, nationality and her unique silhouette aesthetic.