Arthur Melbourne-Cooper: An Amazing Animation Pioneer

‘Watching the films by Cooper from 1899 is an amazing and emotional experience’, animation filmmaker and Oscar winner Børge Ring says. ‘Cooper’s films betray he was full of all the playful thrills and artistic instincts we have seen with every sincere animation filmmaker since then.’ HAFF visitors can establish this for themselves on Thursday 5 November, during the screening of six astonishing animation films by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper (1874-1961) from the collection of the Film Museum. Made between 1899 and 1911, these are the six surviving puppet movies out of the 36 he made. In addition, between 1895 and 1915, Cooper made some 300 other films: farces, drama, documentaries, newsreels and sports reports. Prior to the screening, the audience is informed about the book They Thought it was a Marvel by Tjitte de Vries and Ati Mul, which will shortly be published by the Amsterdam University Press, and which deals with film pioneer Cooper’s puppet films. The American film historian Dr. Anthony Slide (author of over 42 books) read the manuscript and commented: ‘It makes the reader sit up and realize this is not going to be just another boring academic text.’