The Student of Prague (1913 film)

The Student of Prague, released in Germany as Der Student von Prag, is a 1913 silent film credited to director Stellan Rye with substantial creative involvement from its star, Paul Wegener, widely regarded as one of the first true art films and a foundational work of German cinema. It follows a poor student who sells his mirror reflection to a sorcerer in exchange for wealth and social standing, only for the reflection to detach and take on an independent, malevolent life of its own. Its doppelganger theme and early use of double-exposure trick photography to place the actor and his reflection in the same frame made it influential on later horror and fantasy filmmaking, including the German Expressionist films that followed it.