Silhouette art by Lotte Reiniger

Lotte Reiniger (Charlotte Reiniger; 1899 – 1981) was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her most famous work, The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), is considered the oldest surviving feature-length animated film. Reiniger's distinctive style involved intricate black paper silhouettes manipulated and filmed frame by frame. This technique, combined with her unique artistic vision, brought to life enchanting narratives drawn from fairy tales and folklore, effectively establishing an art form that influenced the development of animation globally.