The Adventures Of Prince Achmed (1926), April 30th 9:05pm Bytowne Cinema
with Live Music. 35mm Tinted and Toned print.
The Adventures Of Prince Achmed is the oldest surviving feature-length animated film. We present it tonight from a restored 35mm film print, brought up for one night only from a distributor in the United States. The evening will feature a live musical performance of a new score composed by Ottawa’s own Mike Dubué (Hilotrons), who will perform it along with various guest musicians.
The musicians performing the score are:
Mike Dubue: Bass, Piano, Vibraphone
Holger Schoorl: Classical Guitar, Electric Guitar
Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde: Cello
Paul Hogan: Electric Guitar
Alex Moxon: Electric Guitar
Adam Sakailey: Effects, Piano
Rolf Klausener: Bass
Philip shaw Bova: Percussion
To make this all happen we are selling advance tickets and fundrasing to pay for the musicans, rental and original musical composition. Check out the campaign here which includes lots of great perks:
http://igg.me/at/michaeldubue
Achmed is a tale of adventure and magic based on the legends of the 1001 Arabian Nights. The film was created over a three-year period by German director Lotte Reiniger, who animated the film using an innovative silhouette technique, photographing cardboard cut-outs and lead forms with a multi-plane camera. Though filmed in black and white, Reiniger also employed various coloured tints and tones to lend the film a more evocative atmosphere. The end result is a film of surprising depth and delicacy. Upon its release it was widely acclaimed as a masterpiece.
Reiniger was a highly accomplished animator, and a determined female pioneer in the film world. In her professional life she crossed paths with luminaries such as Bertholt Brecht, Fritz Lang, and Jean Renoir, as well as John Grierson, who later founded the National Film Board of Canada. He helped Reiniger and her husband flee to England to escape Nazi persecusion for her involvement in left-wing politics, where she lived and worked for many years, before coming to Canada in the early 1970s. Enticed out of a self-imposed retirement after the death of her husband, she completed two final short animated films at the NFB, and influenced a new generation of Canadian animators.
It may be a stretch to claim Reiniger as a Canadian filmmaker, but we’re willing to do it in the name of art.
Press info here
– Lost Dominion Screening Collective
