Lotte Reiniger

Lotte Reiniger was born in 1899, and since childhood always seemed to be able to cut paper into fantastic silhouettes. She originally intended to be an actress, but instead captured the interest of Paul Wegener,due to her silhouette making ability. He commissioned her to fashion silhouettes to accompany the intertitles for a couple of his films.
Her connection with Wegener proved to be beneficial because he introduced her to a group of men who were in the process of creating an animation studio. It was here that she created her first film, "The Ornament of the Loving Heart." She married one of the men in the group, Carl Koch, and he made an animation studio for her and was her producer and cameraman. Reiniger went on to make many wonderful films including "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" which is commonly thought of as the first full length animated film.
When the Nazis took Germany over, Reiniger and her husband fled to England where they continued to make films together. During wartime, however she only made one film because she had to go to Berlin to attend to her ill mother. Though many of the original film negatives from her work were destroyed in the war, many still survive.
When Koch died, Reiniger stopped working for ten years until she returned to Germany and resumed her work. She went on to recieve the Filmband in Gold, and the Order of Merit. She created two more films before she died in 1981.


Post by Luke

Info from: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/528134/

Image from: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/prince-achmed-11duo.gif