The world’s first fully animated cartoon was released

On August 17, 1908, the Gaumont company in Paris released Fantasmagorie, the world’s first fully animated cartoon created by Emile Cohl in the traditional hand-drawn animation style.

The film depicting crazy images morphing fluidly from one to the next is a tribute to the Incoherent Art Movement of France which had been almost forgotten by that time.

This later gave birth to many of the techniques used in avant-garde art later on.

The film takes its name from the fantasmograph, a 19th century lantern which projects shadowy images on the wall. The French term ‘fantasmagorie’ is defined as “a constantly shifting complex succession of things seen or imagined.”