1921 Hans Richter - "Rhythmus 21" (edit)
Hans Richter was a german avant-garde artist who started experimenting with film together with Viking Eggeling. His first published result is "Rhythmus 1921", presumably created in 1921 but probably not released until 1923. It is an early and influential abstract film and Richter often claimed it was the first abstract film ever created, However, fellow German artist Walter Ruttmann had some abstract films released by 1921 and Bruno Corra & Arnaldo Ginna had made several of them in 1911 and 1912 (which have been long lost and not viewed by many).
The spatial effect and the associations the simple shapes evoke are quite impressive. In case the film makes you think of Piet Mondriaan's paintings: they were both connected to the dutch artistic movement De Stijl which dictated much of the characteristics of their works.
Richter made a few more abstract films, some documentary shorts, dadaistic shorts and a few longer films. On his films he collaborated with the likes of Walter Ruttmann, Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder,Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, Jean Arp and John Cage.