This year’s
Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema kicked off last Thursday night with a screening of Europe’s first animated feature film,
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Die Arbenteuer des Prinzen Achmed). Considered Europe's first animated feature film, it is 81 minutes long, and was made in 1926 by
Lotte Reiniger (along with her husband and two others).
Reiniger made the film with paper cut-out shadow puppets – apparently over 100,000 of them. What was particularly special about Thursday night’s screening was the live soundtrack performed by
Miles and Karina, who were commissioned earlier this year by
The Northwest Film Forum to compose a new score for this amazing piece of cinematic history. I lost myself in the story – a tale based on 1001 Arabian nights – partly because the beautiful details of the animation worked so well at propelling the story, but also very much because the music was such a brilliant complement to the visuals… Miles and Karina’s music evoked the moods and humor of the story beautifully – and so subtly that I completely forgot the music was being performed live!
Labels: features, festivals, Lotte Reiniger, silhouette animation, Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema
