With Live Score By Chris Davies

Doors open 10:45am, Screening starts 11:00am, Saturday 17 16 March 2018, Opera House

Year: 1926
Running Time: 67 mins
Director: Lotte Reiniger
Cert: PG
Genre: Animation, family, art film

Lotte Reiniger’s beautiful 1926 silhouette animation, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, brings to life magical tales from the Arabian Nights.

First shown in 1926 in Germany by Lotte Reiniger. It’s preserved in the BFI National Archive and is the oldest surviving animated feature film and still stands as one of the great classics of animation — witty, lively, delicate, inventive, stirring and romantic.

Three years in the making, made in card, cut entirely by hand, Reiniger’s exquisite shadow characters move intricately through colourful worlds of demons, witches, beautiful princesses and flying castles.

The film features a silhouette animation technique Reiniger had invented which involved manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead moved frame-by-frame under a camera. Several famous avant-garde animators worked on this film with Lotte Reiniger, among them Walter Ruttmann, Berthold Bartosch and Carl Koch.

Musician Chris Davies reinvigorates the film with his skillful composition and live performance using a spectacular array of instruments from around the world to accompany Prince Achmed’s journey from the Middle East, to Africa, China and beyond.

Instruments used in this production:

Classical guitar, oud, darbuka, gong rack, bass drum, djembe, tin whistle, bowed psaltery, xylophones, thumb piano, zither, crystal singing bowl, bamboo flute, soprano saxophone, rattles, shakers and bells, voice, sequencing and computer programming.

Tickets: Adults £5, children £2.50.
Special early bird offer: buy one adult ticket get one child ticket free – book before 5 March 2018.