El Apóstol (Lost 1917 Animated Film)

El Apostol ("The Apostle" in Spanish) was an Argentinian silent black-and-white animated film released in 1917.

It was directed, written, designed and animated by Quirino Cristiani, whose two other animated features he made are lost as well.

It is considered to be the first ever animated feature in history (being 70 minutes long, with a frame-rate of 14 images per second), but all known copies have been destroyed in a fire.

The plot would have been a political satire, about then-Argentinian-president Hipolito Yrigoyen, wanting to cleanse Bueno Aires of immorality and corruption, uses the thunder of Jupiter to engulf the city in flames.

No cel, poster or photograph of the film remains.