Learn about pre-Walt Disney animation history with the woman who animated with shadows. Join animation historian Whitney Grace as she discusses the life and career of animation director Lotte Reiniger-a first at the San Diego Comic Con.
SAN DIEGO, CA – It’s a common fallacy to believe that Walt Disney Animation Studios created the first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. That is 100% wrong! The first animated features were directed by Argentine Quirino Cristiani and were burnt to a crisp in several fires. However, after Cristiani and before Disney was German Lotte Reiniger and her 1926 feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed.Reiniger animated The Adventures of Prince Achmed from 1923-1926 in a cramped garage apartment with a team of 6 people, including herself and her husband. She and her team used silhouette animation to tell a story inspired by 1001 Arabian Nights. They pioneered techniques and invented equipment that would later become standards in the animation industry.
Unfortunately World War II, funding issues, and health concerns disrupted Reiniger’s career. A male-centric approach to animation history overshadowed her contributions regulating her to a footnote. Despite her setbacks, Reiniger animated over sixty films, mostly fairytales, that are still as awe-inspiring as ever.
For the first time at San Diego Comic Con, animation historian Whitney Grace will share Lotte Reiniger’s fantastical animation career and set the historical record straight.
Come and listen to Lotte Reiniger: The First Woman Animation Director, Saturday July 22, 2023 at 11:30 AM, Room 10 San Diego Convention Center Upper Level.
Grace wrote Lotte Reiniger: Pioneer of Film Animation (McFarland, 2017). She’s been featured on the BBC and lectured at Walt Disney Animation Studios, GenCon, Dragon Con, Center for Puppetry Arts, and Pasadena Arts Center. She’s currently writing several books about film and animation history and will soon release her fantasy novel Iron Impetigo. For more information visit, www.toonintalk.com.
