OVID’s First-Ever Animation Festival
Ovid kicks off this special event with two enchanting and complementary works, made 85 years apart. The oldest surviving animated feature film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a profoundly influential work featuring director Lotte Reiniger’s own silhouette animation techniques. Nearly nine decades later, acclaimed French animator Michel Ocelot paid homage to Reiniger’s artistry with his stunning Tales of the Night.
Keep an eye on OVID in the coming week as more acclaimed animated films join the lineup. While Tales of the Night and The Adventures of Prince Achmed are sure to delight viewers of all ages, Ovid’s animation festival will also feature films to entertain and provoke adult audiences. This festival celebrates animation in all its rich possibilities – join them in the celebration!
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
A film by Lotte Reiniger
| When The Adventures of Prince Achmed premiered in Germany on September 23, 1926, it was hailed as the first full-length animated film. This enchanting film still stands as one of the great classics of animation — beautiful, mesmerizing and utterly seductive. |
| Tales of the Night A film by Michel Ocelot Every night, a girl, a boy and an elderly technician meet in a little cinema, sharing tales that capture their fancy. Together, they act out magnificent fables from around the world, including stories set in Tibet, medieval Europe, an Aztec Kingdom, the African plains, and the Land of the Dead. |
Also on OVID…
On the Way to School
A film by Pascal Plisson
| They live in all four corners of the planet and share a thirst for knowledge. Almost instinctively, they know that their wellbeing (indeed, their survival) depends on knowledge and education. From the dangerous savannahs of Kenya to the winding trails of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, from the suffocating heat of Southern India to the vast, dizzying plateaux of Patagonia, these children are all united by the same quest and dream. |
PopMatters on OVID’s
classic French lineup!
| Over at PopMatters, Michael Barrett has written a delightful rundown of our little-seen works by Marc Allégret and Jacques Doniol-Valcroze. Barrett provides expert context and analysis of these works, and invites like-minded readers to join him in the fun and discovery: “In February, “just in time for Valentine’s Day”, OVID premiered five French films of the 1950s and 1960s never on disc in Region 1. This is my catnip.” |