Lotte Reiniger

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