The enchanting magic of Lotte Reiniger’s timeless shadow animations captivated audiences of all ages at the Trieste Film Festival 2024, evoking both childlike wonder and a rediscovery of storytelling artistry.
The 35th edition of the Trieste Film Festival excited audiences of all ages with one of its staple sections: TSFF For the Little Ones. This ‘festival within the festival’ boasts creative workshops and arthouse screenings appropriate for younger audiences. Many cinemas across Europe have a tradition of creating a pleasant viewing experience for the youngest of audiences where lights are only slightly dimmed and a little bit of chaos, chatting, and strolling around are encouraged.
At this year’s Trieste Film Festival, a selection of four silent films bewitched the young viewers. The University of Bologna presented its completed restoration project of four Lotte Reiniger shadow animations. These included Cinderella (Aschenputtel, 1922-23), Sleeping Beauty (Dornröschen, 1922), Papageno (1935), and Puss in Boots (1954).
It was pleasing to see that the young viewers were enchanted by what are essentially black and white cutouts, but for this seasoned filmgoer, the experience was nearly transformative. The play of black and white cutouts that opened up into fascinating shapes and took over the big screen were more than enough to bring back childlike awe in anyone. There wasn’t even much need to use one’s imagination. The cutout images acted like a Rorschach test where your brain naturally imposes all that is missing from the two-dimensionally created world. There wasn’t one particular thing that set itself apart. The movies were a compact unit, and the characters and their settings were at times so simple and yet conveyed elaborate story developments that it beggared belief that such movie magic was possible over 100 years ago.
Cinderella included the infamous foot-cutting scene in which one of the stepsisters cuts her toes and the other her heel in order to try to fit into Cinderella’s shoe. The seemingly unimpressive black and white drops that symbolized blood still made me turn my head away in disgust. It was the sharpness of the slanted knife, the expressiveness of the stepsisters’ limbs, the spraying of the droplets that made the scene as disgusting as the Brothers Grimm intended.
Sleeping Beauty – which in many languages loosely translates as Thorn-lady because of the thorns that engulf the castle once Sleeping Beauty pricks her finger on the poisoned needle – inspired a sense of anxiety. Once the curse is set, the thorns fill the screen with particular malice purported by the black and white visuals.
Papageno was a much livelier experience as the main character traverses a jungle full of friendly and threatening animals to seduce his mate. The transformations between human form and animals are magical, while the richness of wildlife and their movements feel grandiose in scope. Although the silhouettes are technically flat, their movement and detail aid the viewers’ imagination, and the end result feel like a colorful journey.
Puss in Boots from 1954 unsurprisingly boasts the most detail and an advanced play of light and shadow, background detail, and composition. This film also comes with dialogue that didn’t exist in the fairy tales from the 20s. In some way, to an adult, the addition of dialogue doesn’t serve the story as well as it should. It reminds the viewer of how far technology advanced and how rudimentary the animation looks compared to modern times.
None of this bothered the young viewers who the story was intended for, and they rewarded the selected animations with entertained applause while the adults were allowed to rediscover the magic of simple animation and storytelling. Lotte Reiniger’s magic is still awe-inspiring, even 100 years on.
