| El Apóstol | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Quirino Cristiani |
| Produced by | Federico Valle |
| Written by | Quirino Cristiani |
| Release date(s) | November 9, 1917 |
| Running time | 70 minutes (14 frame/s) |
| Country | Argentina |
| Language | Silent film Spanish (Castellano) intertitles |
El Apóstol (Spanish: "The Apostle") was a 1917 Argentine animated film utilizing cutout animation, and the world's first animated feature film. It was written and directed by Quirino Cristiani, and consisted of a total of 58,000 frames played over the course of 70 minutes (at 14 frames per second).[1] 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 Frederico Valle's film studio incinerated the only known copy of El Apóstol, and it is now considered a lost film.