---
name: "Lotte Reiniger"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/lotte-reiniger"
fi1m_id: "lotte-reiniger"
imdb_id: "nm0718201"
tmdb_id: 549834
wikidata_id: "Q444011"
roles: ["Animation","Director"]
born: "2 June 1899"
died: "19 June 1981"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 0
updated: "2026-09-25T06:22:17.387226+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Lotte Reiniger

## Identity

Lotte Reiniger

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lotte-reiniger
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** lotte-reiniger
- **IMDb ID:** nm0718201
- **TMDB ID:** 549834
- **Wikidata ID:** Q444011
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_Reiniger, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q444011, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0718201/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/549834

Animation and director. Born 2 June 1899 in Berlin, German Empire [now Germany]. Died 19 June 1981.

## Details

- **Work:** Animation, Director
- **Born:** 2 June 1899, Berlin, German Empire [now Germany]
- **Died:** 19 June 1981
- **Also known as:** Charlotte Reiniger
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_Reiniger, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q444011, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0718201/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/549834

## Fi1m on Lotte Reiniger

> Lotte Reiniger’s silhouette figures move with a delicacy that earns our affection. We warmly recommend her animation, with one reservation: in *The Adventures of Prince Achmed*, the adventure and romance are less involving than the images.

Reiniger gives us a silhouette and asks us to read its feelings through movement and outline. In *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* (1926), the figures are expressive enough to make its fantasy inviting. We were charmed by the life she gives them. They earn our affection without requiring any special allowance for the age of the film.

*Cinderella (Aschenputtel)* (1922) already had the fairy-tale subject and silhouette technique that would recur throughout her work. *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* took three years and a small team, but the feature can obscure how much of her career was spent on shorter forms. She went on to concentrate on shorts and sequences within other films. *Papageno* (1935), drawn from scenes in Mozart’s *The Magic Flute*, continues her interest in matching movement to music. Fairy-tale adaptations for television followed in the 1950s, and she kept making films into the late 1970s.

Her figures were articulated cut-outs of black cardboard and lead, joined with wire hinges and photographed frame by frame on a backlit glass table. Layered glass planes gave *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* depth, allowing its flat figures to move through a convincing space. Carl Koch worked with her as producer and camera operator, while Walther Ruttmann and Berthold Bartosch assisted with the feature’s backgrounds and animation. Wolfgang Zeller supplied the music. The result rewards close attention to movement, though we never need to understand the equipment to enjoy it.

The reservation is about the screenplay, which on *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* was also Reiniger’s. The adventure holds our interest without making us particularly anxious, and the romance leaves too much of the emotional work to the animation. At 66 minutes, it can still feel slight. We occasionally wanted more than another opportunity to admire the images, but that is a criticism of this story, not a verdict against the technique. Give *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* an evening, but do not expect its romance to be what stays with you.

## Biography

Lotte Reiniger, also credited as Charlotte Reiniger, was a German director and pioneer of silhouette animation. She directed and wrote the screenplay for *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* (1926), recognised as the oldest surviving animated feature film.

Born in Berlin in 1899, Reiniger entered the film industry in the late 1910s through work with Paul Wegener. She married Carl Koch in 1921; he collaborated on her films as cinematographer and producer. She made numerous short silhouette films over a career lasting until 1980. Reiniger died in Dettenhausen in 1981.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, deutsche-kinemathek.de.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* (1926), Fi1m 80, Screenplay, Animation, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-prince-achmed.md)

## Complete filmography (66)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Contes et silhouettes* (2023), Director
- *Lotte Reiniger - Tanz der Schatten* (2012), Actor
- *Lotte Reiniger: The Fairy Tale Films* (2008), Director
- *The Four Seasons* (1981), Director, Animation, Screenplay
- *Die Frau hinter den Schatten: Lotte Reiniger* (1981), Actor
- *The Rose and The Ring* (1979), Director
- *Aucassin and Nicolette* (1975), Director
- *Bewegte Bilder. Deutsche Trickfilme der Zwanziger Jahre* (1975), Actor
- *The Lost Son* (1974), Director
- *The Frog Prince* (1961), Director
- *A Night in a Harem* (1958), Director
- *Helen La Belle* (1957), Director
- *The Star of Bethlehem* (1956), Animation, Production Design, Director
- *The Little Chimney Sweep* (1955), Director
- *Jack and the Beanstalk* (1955), Director
- *Hansel and Gretel* (1954), Director
- *Cinderella* (1954), Director
- *The Three Wishes* (1954), Director
- *The Frog Prince* (1954), Director
- *Aladdin and the Magic Lamp* (1954), Director
- *The Sleeping Beauty* (1954), Director
- *Snow White and Rose Red* (1954), Director
- *Thumbelina* (1954), Director
- *The Grasshopper and the Ant* (1954), Director, Writer
- *The Gallant Little Tailor* (1954), Director
- *Puss in Boots* (1954), Director, Animation
- *The Caliph Stork* (1954), Director
- *The Magic Horse* (1953), Director
- *Christmas is Coming* (1951), Director
- *Mary's Birthday* (1951), Director, Animation
- *Grain Harvest* (1944), Director
- *The Golden Goose* (1944), Director, Writer
- *Girl of the Golden West* (1942), Screenplay
- *Tosca* (1941), Assistant Director
- *The HPO* (1938), Director
- *The Tocher* (1937), Director
- *The King’s Breakfast* (1937), Director, Animation
- *Silhouettes* (1936), Animation Director
- *Papageno* (1935), Director, Writer
- *Puss in Boots* (1935), Producer, Writer, Director
- *Galathea* (1935), Director
- *The Stolen Heart* (1934), Director
- *Carmen* (1934), Director, Writer
- *The Little Chimney Sweep* (1934), Director
- *Don Quixote* (1933), Special Effects
- *The Rolling Wheel* (1933), Director
- *Sissi* (1932), Director, Writer, Animation, Producer
- *Harlequin* (1931), Director, Writer
- *Ten Minutes with Mozart* (1930), Director, Animation, Writer
- *The Pursuit of Happiness* (1930), Writer
- *Yülan, ein Bild aus dem chinesischen* (1930), Actor
- *The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle: Tale 1 - The Trip to Africa* (1928), Director, Animation
- *The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle: Tale 2 - Cannibal Land* (1928), Director, Animation
- *The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle: Tale 3 - The Lion's Den* (1928), Director, Animation
- *Grotesken im Schnee* (1928), Animation, Director
- *Doctor Dolittle and His Animals* (1928), Director
- *The Death Feigning Chinaman* (1928), Director, Writer
- *The Adventures of Prince Achmed* (1926), Director, Screenplay, Animation — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-prince-achmed.md)
- *Die Barcarole* (1924), Director
- *Sleeping Beauty* (1922), Director, Screenplay
- *The Secret of the Marquise* (1922), Director
- *Cinderella* (1922), Director
- *The Star of Bethlehem* (1921), Director, Screenplay
- *The Flying Koffer* (1921), Director, Writer
- *The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart* (1919), Animation, Writer, Director
- *The Pied Piper of Hamelin* (1918), Title Designer

## Gallery

- ![The German silhouette animation film artist Lotte Reiniger in London](https://film.one/media/person/3850185/gallery-4013ee7149cf.jpg) The German silhouette animation film artist Lotte Reiniger in London — N.N./Agentur Primrose Film Productions, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lotte_Reiniger_Atelier_Abbey_Arts_Centre.jpg/1280px-Lotte_Reiniger_Atelier_Abbey_Arts_Centre.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The German silhouette animation film artist Lotte Reiniger in London (1970)](https://film.one/media/person/3850185/gallery-e9e7f8d6577b.jpg) The German silhouette animation film artist Lotte Reiniger in London (1970) — N.N./Agentur Primrose Film Productions, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Lotte_Reiniger_London_1970.jpg/1280px-Lotte_Reiniger_London_1970.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lotte Reiniger](https://film.one/media/person/3850185/gallery-b54fa5692a16.jpg) Lotte Reiniger — NA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Lotte_Reiniger_1939.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![The German pioneer of silhouette animation film: Lotte Reiniger (1922)](https://film.one/media/person/3850185/gallery-cec1e7225177.jpg) The German pioneer of silhouette animation film: Lotte Reiniger (1922) — N.N./Agentur Primrose Film Productions, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lotte_Reiniger_1922.jpg/1280px-Lotte_Reiniger_1922.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The German silhouette animationfilm artist Lotte Reiniger in London](https://film.one/media/person/3850185/gallery-d95b09c6f4f4.jpg) The German silhouette animationfilm artist Lotte Reiniger in London — N.N./Agentur Primrose Film Productions, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Lotte_Reiniger_London_Abbey_Arts_Centre_Garden_02.jpg/1280px-Lotte_Reiniger_London_Abbey_Arts_Centre_Garden_02.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lotte-reiniger