Lotte Reiniger

Pioneer of silhouette animation who created the first feature-length animated film

German artist Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger (1899–1981) revolutionized cinema with her 1926 masterpiece The Adventures of Prince Achmed, predating Disney's Snow White by 11 years. Using intricate silhouette animation techniques she invented, Reiniger hand-cut thousands of jointed cardboard figures, creating fluid motion through layered glass planes.

Her multiplane camera design, later adapted by Disney, enabled revolutionary depth effects in animation. Despite Nazi censorship, she produced over 40 films including anti-fascist allegories disguised as fairy tales. The 1953 short The Grasshopper and the Ant subtly critiqued postwar materialism through her signature shadowplay.

Modern animators like Michelle Kranot credit Reiniger's work as foundational to experimental motion graphics. Her original equipment is preserved at the Deutsches Filminstitut in Frankfurt.