Lotte Reiniger...Paper Silhouette Animator

I feel like I must be very late to come across the wonderful animations of Lotte Reiniger, but nevertheless, today I've just discovered her work!  Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981) considered herself to be an 'entertainer' and found inspiration from puppets, cinema and traditional Chinese paper cuts. 

This one is called 'Papageno'....I like the birds in this one....

She worked over a light box, and took still frames after each adjustment of the paper silhouettes....

Check out this clever contraption used to capture the frames....

These are still from the animation 'Prince Achmed' which took Lotte 3 years to complete!.....

Here is a short clip of the animation here......