Short film programme in the Opening of the Heritage Film Festival
Fiction, animation / Germany / 1919-1930, 78 min
Friday, November 10, 19:00, Galerie 1 – HEI House of European Institutes (4 Hector Street, Timișoara)
Free Entrance
Lotte Reiniger was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her best known films are The Adventures of Prince Achmed, from 1926, the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, and Papageno (1935). Reiniger is also noted for having devised, from 1923 to 1926, the first form of a multiplane camera. She worked on more than 40 films throughout her career.
The slot included in the CineEuroConnect includes 7 short films:
Das Ornament des verliebten Herzen – The Ornament of the Loving Heart (Germany 1919)
Duration: 4 min
Description: The first film directed by influential German-born silhouette animator Lotte Reiniger is reminiscent of a Valentine’s Day card come to life. Two lovers interact with an ornate backdrop that changes in tandem with their balletic movements as they express their feelings for each other. Reiniger’s fascination with silhouettes began as a child when he fell in love with puppet silhouettes.
Aschenputtel – Cinderella (1922)
Duration: 13 min
Description: The film opens with a surprise: a silhouette of Cinderella is cut out of black paper – then new peep-box scenes open: Cinderella at the hearth, above her caricatured half-sisters, fat and thin, between her evil stepmother wielding her cane. The king’s invitation triggers an explosion of activity. Cinderella would have liked to go too, but instead she is poured a bowl of lentils in her ashes. The good pigeons, however, help the unfortunate girl finish her job quickly. An enchanted tree at her mother’s grave gives Cinderella a lovely dress so she can attend the castle ball. The king’s son has eyes only for the beautiful stranger and dances with her all evening. But the spell only lasts until midnight and Cinderella leaves in a hurry. What remains is a thoughtful king’s son – and a shoe.
Der fliegende koffer – The Flying Suitcase (1921)
Duration: 8 min
Description: A poor young fisherman tries to rescue the Emperor of China’s daughter.
Der scheintote Chinese – The Sheep Dead Chinese (1927)
Duration: 9 min
Description: Taken from cuttings of The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1923-26), this
short is based on ‘Tales of the Arabian Nights’ with Chinese characters.
Ping Pong receives a bottle of alcohol as a gift from the Emperor. When he gets drunk and chokes on a fish bone, no one in the city wants to take responsibility for his death.
Die Jagd nach dem Glück – The Pursuit of Happiness (1929-1930)
Duration: 19 min
Description: A charming fable of a man who almost misses his own life and its fulfillment in his pursuit of happiness. Originally conceived as an excerpt from a tenact work, this silhouette film is the only material of it that has survived.
Dornröschen – Sleeping Beauty (1922)
Duration: 9 min
Description: „Once upon a time in a beautiful castle lived a king and a queen who were very happy.” This fairy story beginning soon tilts to the macabre and grotesque when the castle falls into its 100-year sleep, awaiting the arrival of the young prince. The Grimm brothers’ story stirred animator Lotte Reiniger deeply as a child, when she burst into tears at missing a cinema screening of an early version.
Grotesken im Schnee – Grotesques in Snow (1928)
Duration: 12 min
Description: The first attempt to combine Reiniger’s silhouettes with real film. The silhouettes blend successfully with Alex Strasser’s 16mm footage, allowing for a sweeping narrative filled with numerous comic elements that often make the viewer smile.