film screening
The Adventures of Prince Achmed, 1926/2008
by Lotte Reiniger with Music by Agnes Bashir and Elia Khoury

Tuesday 28 April 2009

60 min. | 1926/2008

The Adventures of Prince Achmed ("Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed") is a 1926 feature-length animated film by the German animator Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film, and it features a silhouette animation technique, invented by Reiniger, which involves manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera. The story is based on the elements taken from the collection 1001 Arabian Nights, specifically The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou. With the assistance of Aladdin, the Witch of the Fiery Mountain, and a magic horse, the title character battles the evil African sorcerer to win the hand of Princess Pari Banou. In 2008, a new edition of the film was released by the Goethe Institut with musical tracks by Agnes Bashir and Elia Khoury. The film will be screened in German with Arabic subtitles.