Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed
“I believe in the truth of fairy-tales more than I believe in the truth of newspapers.” For her THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED – the oldest surviving animated feature film – the German director Lotte Reiniger drew inspiration from one of the most famous fairy-tales from literary history, 1001 Nights. She invented her own unique animation technique, inspired by Javan shadow plays. She carefully cut all of the figurines out of cardboard, filmed the silhouettes on thin sheets of lead and even coloured the backgrounds herself as well. The project took three years to complete and 250.000 camera shots were needed to animate the film frame by frame. A century later, this first feature animation movie from film history still continues to be a feast for the eyes.
The movie tells the story of an evil sorcerer, who deceives Prince Achmed into mounting a magic horse. The horse flies off with him, but luckily the brave prince finally manages to tame the horse. Prince Achmed travels to the magical island of Wak Wak, where he falls in love with the beautiful princess Pari Banu. Unfortunately, their happiness is short-lived when the sorcerer kidnaps Pari Banu to the far-away China. Prince Achmed chases them and with the help of Aladdin and his magic lamp, he fights giants, monsters and ghost to save his true love.
Showtimes
The film will be accompanied by pianist Noah Vanden Abeele, who will improvise a live soundtrack.
