Rhythmus 21 (1923) ***

A purely abstract German animated experimental short film by Hans Richter. The work on the film started in 1921, but the first public screening was only held on July 6th 1923 in France. Over the next few years, Richter had worked on the film and extended it to almost seven minutes. Eventually, he split it up and called them "Rhythmus 21", "Rhythmus 23" and "Rhythmus 25". Thus, he insinuated that 21 meant 'released in 1921'. He thereby tried to predate Walter Ruttmann who on April 27th 1921 screened the first abstract film, "Opus I".