El Apóstol (lost Argentinian first feature animated film; 1917)

A fan-made poster for the film.

Status: Lost

El Apostol (aka The Apostle) was an Argentinian silent black-and-white animated film released in 1917. It was directed, written, designed and animated by Quirino Cristiani, whose two other animated features are also lost (Sin dejar rastros and Peludópolis). Instead of using traditional cellulose animation, Cristiani would use flat puppets with rotating/removable members. Character designs were made by Diógenes Taborda, a popular cartoonist at the time.

It is considered to be the first animated feature (being 70 minutes long with a frame-rate of 14 images per second), but all known copies were destroyed in a fire in 1926.

The film was a political satire about then-Argentinian-president Hipolito Yrigoyen, wanting to cleanse Bueno Aires of immorality and corruption. Yrigoyen flies into heaven and encounters the god of thunder, Jupiter. Using his lightning bolts, Yrigoyen strikes Bueno Aires and the city is engulfed in flames, burning into ashes, before he decides to start rebuilding the city. He then awakens, finding out that this was all a dream and is forced to face the harsh reality of complicated politics.

No stills or posters of the film remain, apart from a few character designs by Taborda and a photograph of the Buenos Aires model, as seen below. Cristiani would later make another political satire animated feature about Yrigoyen: Peludopolis.

Gallery

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  Character design of Irigoyen for the film, by Diógenes Taborda.

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  Another character design by Diógenes Taborda.

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  Model of Buenos Aires used for the ending.