Alexandre Alexeieff

August 1, 1901 – August 9, 1982

Kazan, Russian Empire [now Tatarstan, Russia]

Russian-born French experimental short artist who with his wife, American-born Claire Parker, invented the pinscreen animation technique. He is most known for designing the prologue sequence for Orson Welles's The Trial. He grew up in Constantinople, then the Ottoman Empire. His landmark work, Night on Bald Mountain (1933) was a fusion of musical piece and imagery, seven years before Wait Disney attempted the same piece as part of Fantasia (1940). Two years later he would produce the first promotional film in France made in color.