Lotte Reiniger: Pioneer of Film Animation

About the AuthorWhitney Grace is a professional writer, researcher and animation historian.

This detailed account of her life and work describes her significant contributions to animation, puppetry, Weimar cinema and modern filmmaking.. As the result of a number of factors--her gender, her German ethnicity, World War II and a lack of funding--Reiniger became a footnote in animation history. For three years during the 1920s, in an attic in Potsdam, a young woman crafted what is today the oldest surviving animated feature film. Yet her 60-plus films plainly show her skill and dedication to her craft. Equipped with scissors, cardboard, sheets of lead, glass panes and a camera, animation pioneer Lotte Reiniger filmed Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed) using a technique of frame-by-frame silhouette animation she developed, inspired by Chinese shadow puppetry

Whitney Grace is a professional writer, researcher and animation historian.