Kaiser (film)

Kaiser
The only surviving frame from Kaiser, by Álvaro Marins, the Seth.
Directed by	Álvaro Marins
Release date	January 22, 1917 (1917-01-22)
Country	First Brazilian Republic

Kaiser is a short animated film, directed by the cartoonist Álvaro Marins, the Seth, in 1917. It is considered the first cartoon produced in Brazil.^[1]

The film premiered on January 22, 1917, at Cine Pathé in Rio de Janeiro, months before Brazil declared war on Germany and started its participation in World War I. It consisted of a political cartoon, showing the emperor Wilhelm II putting on his head a helmet that represented the control over the world. Then, a terrestrial globe grew and swallowed the German leader.^[2]

Since 1907 the Brazilian cinemas already presented/displayed animated vignettes in the closure of the newsreels. However, Kaiser was the first Brazilian autonomous animation to be shown. The whereabouts of the work were already unknown 20 years after its release.^[3]

The film was not preserved and is now a lost film, leaving only a still frame.^[4]

Legacy

Unfortunately, the film was not preserved and was lost forever, leaving only a reference image of the work.^[4] To honor the artist and his creation, the director of the film Luz, Anima, Ação, Eduardo Calvet, invited 8 Brazilian animators of different techniques:^[5] Marão (traditional), Zé Brandão (digital 2D), Still (animation on paper), Pedro Iuá (clay), Marcos Magalhães (animation in film), Diego Akel (pixilation), Fábio Yamaji (light painting) and Rosana Urbes (metalanguage).^[4]

It was shown in August at Anima Mundi 2013.^[6]

See also

• History of Brazilian animation
• Brazil during World War I

References

1. Animação pioneira satiriza imperador e apoia serviço militar. Almanaque Brasil
2. GOMES, Andréia Prieto. História da Animação no Brasil Archived August 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
3. Tiago Dias (2017-02-17). "Primeira animação brasileira completa cem anos (mas ninguém mais viu)" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-02-06.
4. "Primeiro desenho animado do país, 'Kaiser' completa 100 anos" (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2017-01-22. Archived from the original on 2017-01-23. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
5. 'Luz, Anima, Ação!' conta a história dos filmes de animação no Brasil
6. "Festival Anima Mundi exibe 1º longa sobre história da animação brasileira" (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2013-08-06. Retrieved 2021-03-12.