A Lotte to Talk About

Snaps of our tv during the documentary on Lotte's life and career on left, on right her divine hands at work she loved.

There's already been a lotte written about early animation pioneer, Lotte Reininger. I had heard about her a few years ago online, put her feature length milestone film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, in our Netflix queue in a low priority. It arrived when I wasn't paying attention and I'm so happy it did.

I finally saw it, fell in love with it and the story of Lotte's career described in the fascinating documentary included on the disk A bargain when I think that the original 1925 nitrate film no longer exists except for what has been salvaged to dvd.

I found the film inspiring in many ways for the Halfland project. Lotte's technique is artistically integrated, the paper puppets with their wire hinges, are themselves works of art. She was pure in her art. She did what was natural for her and as such, invented a new art form and/or advanced the craft hugely in a time of difficulty and restriction, regardless of gender or other imposed limitations. Her life was spent this way, making the art she loved most. That creative joy comes through each of Lotte's projects I've seen, making them timelessly beguiling.

Insight into Lotte's animation techniques.

It seems to me that Lotte was able to extract the essence of her puppet characters from only very barest of their representation. She seems to have been able to enact the truth of life in her art. And she knew what she was doing all along...

"What can be less of a person's image than his silhouette.
And how much can this express. Less gold, but the purest."

--Lotte Reininger