The Lord of the Rings
Giants, fairies, magicians, ghosts, dragons, and monsters of all kinds… Here’s what your Cinémathèque has in store this summer! Since Méliès, filmmakers have embraced the fanstastic potential of cinema, creating infinite phantasmagorias and extraordinary spectacles where the unreal becomes real. Step into a world of fantasy and boundless imagination: whatever your generation, the monsters and wonders that once filled your childhood dreams are back this summer 2025!
Known for its extensive use of rotoscoping (a technique that involves redrawing actors who have been filmed in live-action), Ralph Bakshi's film only tells the first half of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as the production of the sequel never occurred. Released in 1978 and despite its mixed critical reception, the film nevertheless helped to revive interest in Tolkien's literature.
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Mostly active in animation, he also directed films combining animation with live-action, and only one film with actors. At a time when the animation industry was in crisis during the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, Bakshi established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. In 1972, he made his debut feature film, Fritz the Cat, which became the first animated film to receive an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. He went on to direct several heroic fantasy films for which he is best known, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), and Fire and Ice (1983).
Photo: Heather Leah Kennedy | Collections de la Cinémathèque québécoise
