El Apóstol

El Apóstol () is a 1917 lost Argentine animated film utilizing cutout animation, and the world's first feature animation film.  It was directed and produced respectively by Italian immigrants Quirino Cristiani and Federico Valle.

Production background
The film was written by Alfonso de Laferrere  and directed by Quirino Cristiani. The film consisted of a total of 58,000 frames played over the course of 70 minutes (at 14 frames per second).

The film was a satire, with President Hipólito Yrigoyen ascending to the heavens to use Jupiter's thunderbolts to cleanse Buenos Aires of immorality and corruption. The result is a burnt city. The film was well received by critics at the time and a commercial success. A fire that destroyed producer Federico Valle's film studio incinerated the only known copy of El Apóstol, and so it is now considered a lost film.

A 2007 documentary Quirino Cristiani: The mystery of the first animated movies, directed by Italian animator Gabriele Zuchelli researches the history of the studio and recreates the look and technique used in El Apóstol.

See also
List of animated feature-length films
List of lost films

References

External links 
 
 
El Apostol at SilentEra

Category:Argentine films
Category:1917 films
Category:1917 animated films
Category:Animated feature films
Category:Argentine animated films
Category:Argentine silent films
Category:Argentine black-and-white films
Category:Argentine satirical films
Category:Political satire films
Category:Cutout animation films
Category:Films about fires
Category:Films about presidents
Category:Cultural depictions of politicians
Category:Cultural depictions of Argentine men
Category:Animation based on real people
Category:Films based on Greco-Roman mythology
Category:Films directed by Quirino Cristiani
Category:Films set in Buenos Aires
Category:Films set in heaven
Category:Lost animated films
Category:Spanish-language films
Category:1910s stop-motion animated films
Category:1910s lost films
Category:1910s political films