The Adventures of Prince Achmed

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

Germany | 1926 | 80 min. | Lotte Reiniger

January 9, 2023

When Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed premiered in Germany on September 23, 1926, it was hailed as the first full-length animated film. More than seventy-five years later, this enchanting film still stands as one of the great classics of animation—beautiful, mesmerizing and utterly seductive.


Related Event | SIFF Film Talks

Radical Films: Week 1

Join us this week as we look at the world's oldest surviving animated feature, a lost and rediscovered Japanese horror classic, and one of the most moving performances of all time.

January 11, 2023 @ SIFF Film Center & Zoom Webinar


Taken from The Arabian Nights, the film tells the story of a wicked sorcerer who tricks Prince Achmed into mounting a magical flying horse and sends the rider off on a flight to his death. But the prince foils the magician’s plan and soars headlong into a series of wondrous adventures—joining forces with Aladdin and the Witch of the Fiery Mountains, doing battle with the sorcerer's army of monsters and demons, and falling in love with the beautiful Princess Peri Banu.

  • Director: Lotte Reiniger
  • Country: Germany
  • Year: 1926
  • Running Time: 80 min.
  • Language: German, English