Explore a curated selection of short films by Oskar Fischinger – creator of Raumlichtkunst (1926–2012) featured in The Story of the Moving Image exhibition – revealing how experimentation with form and physical media have always been a part of cinema history.

Oskar Fischinger (1900–67) was a pioneer of abstract animation and visual music. Working in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Los Angeles, he is known as the Father of Visual Music and the Grandfather of Motion Graphics. Fischinger made some of the first music videos in the early 1930s, and influenced John Cage’s theories of percussion and the style of Disney’s Fantasia (1940). He has influenced generations of animators and filmmakers and continues to do so today. This is the new HD digital version of CVM’s Retrospective programme featuring his classic visual music films, many from restored 35mm prints. The films include some of his ground-breaking 1930s Studies series synchronizing animation and music, which screened in first-run theatres worldwide.

Fischinger made commercials in his Berlin animation studio, and the Muratti cigarette commercial made him famous worldwide. Paramount Studios brought him to Los Angeles in 1936, where he had several unsuccessful encounters with Hollywood studios. In his later years he could not find support for his films and focused on painting, drawing and a light-play instrument.

– Cindy Keefer, Curator, Center for Visual Music

This is the first of two events exploring Oskar Fischinger, whose seminal work Raumlichtkunst is currently on display at ACMI, thanks to the generous support of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

Tickets include a drink on arrival.