Henri Alekan

Birthday:

02/10/1909

Place of birth:

Paris, France:

Biography:

Henri Alekan (10 February 1909, Paris – 15 June 2001, Auxerre, Bourgogne) was a French cinematographer. Alekan was born in Montmartre in 1909. At the age of sixteen he and his brother became travelling puppeteers. A little later he started work as third assistant cameraman at the Billancourt Studios. He then spent a short time in the army, returning to Billancourt in 1931. In the late 1930s he was the camera operator to Eugene Shufftan on Marcel Carné's Quai des Brumes and Drôle de drame. He was greatly influenced by Schufftan's non-naturalistic style. His first success as a director of photography was René Clément's realistic war drama La Bataille du Rail of 1946. In the same year he worked on Jean Cocteau's fable La Belle et la Bête. He found himself out of sympathy with the French New Wave cinema which emerged in the late 1950s and Alekan shot some rather conventional films in Hollywood. A new generation of directors appreciated his visionary style, however, and he worked with Raúl Ruiz on The Territory and On Top of the Whale, with Joseph Losey on Figures in a Landscape and The Trout, and with Wim Wenders on The State Of Things and Wings of Desire. His last films were made with the Israeli director Amos Gitai. He wrote one of the best books about cinematography Des lumières et des ombres (1984, Éditions du Collectionneur). Alekan died from leukemia on 15 June 2001 in Auxerre, Bourgogne, aged 92. Source: Article "Henri Alekan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.



Credits

Golem: The Petrified Garden (1993)
Director of Photography
Golem, l'esprit de l'exil (1992)
Director of Photography
paint'o jazz (1991)
Director of Photography
Birth of a Golem (1990)
Director of Photography
Cézanne – Conversation with Joachim Gasquet (1990)
Director of Photography
Berlin-Jerusalem (1989)
Director of Photography
Wings of Desire (1987)
Director of Photography
Esther (1986)
Director of Photography
New Order: The Perfect Kiss (1985)
Director of Photography
A Strange Love Affair (1985)
Director of Photography
Wundkanal (1984)
Director of Photography
Our Nazi (1984)
Director of Photography
A Stone in the Mouth (1983)
Director of Photography
The Beautiful Prisoner (1983)
Director of Photography
En rachâchant (1982)
Director of Photography
The Trout (1982)
Director of Photography
The State of Things (1982)
Director of Photography
On Top of the Whale (1982)
Director of Photography
The Territory (1981)
Director of Photography
La Dame de Monte-Carlo (1979)
Cinematography
The Divisions of Nature (1978)
Director of Photography
Gun Moll (1975)
Director of Photography
Red Sun (1971)
Director of Photography
Figures in a Landscape (1970)
Director of Photography
Fun and Games for Everyone (1969)
Director of Photography
The Christmas Tree (1969)
Director of Photography
Ici et maintenant (1969)
Director of Photography
Mayerling (1968)
Director of Photography
Triple Cross (1966)
Director of Photography
Poppies Are Also Flowers (1966)
Director of Photography
Lady L (1965)
Director of Photography
Topkapi (1964)
Director of Photography
The Story of Rebecca (1964)
Director of Photography
The Other Christopher (1963)
Director of Photography
Five Miles to Midnight (1962)
Director of Photography
Black Tights (1961)
Director of Photography
The Battle of Austerlitz (1960)
Director of Photography
The Great Deception (1959)
Director of Photography
Twelve Hours by the Clock (1959)
Director of Photography
Rodin's Hell (1959)
Director
Rodin's Hell (1959)
Director of Photography
The Magic of the Kite (1958)
Director of Photography
Would-Be Gentleman (1958)
Director of Photography
Paris Casino (1957)
Director of Photography
The Case of Dr. Laurent (1957)
Director of Photography
Typhoon Over Nagasaki (1957)
Director of Photography
The Best Part (1955)
Director of Photography
Heroes and Sinners (1955)
Camera Operator
Frou-Frou (1955)
Director of Photography
Queen Margot (1954)
Director of Photography
Les impures (1954)
Director of Photography
Roman Holiday (1953)
Director of Photography
When You Read This Letter (1953)
Director of Photography
Julietta (1953)
Director of Photography
Three Women (1952)
Director of Photography
Stranger on the Prowl (1952)
Director of Photography
Paris Is Always Paris (1951)
Director of Photography
Trip to America (1951)
Director of Photography
Juliette, or Key of Dreams (1951)
Camera Operator
Just Me (1950)
Director of Photography
Marie of the Port (1950)
Director of Photography
The Lovers of Verona (1949)
Director of Photography
Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949)
Director of Photography
Anna Karenina (1948)
Director of Photography
Woman of Evil (1947)
Director of Photography
The Damned (1947)
Director of Photography
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Director of Photography
The Battle of the Rails (1946)
Director of Photography
The Little Ones of the Flower Platform (1944)
Director of Photography
Les Chevaux du Vercors (1943)
Camera Operator
Blind Venus (1941)
Director of Photography
The Shanghai Drama (1938)
Assistant Camera
Port of Shadows (1938)
Camera Operator
Hatred (1938)
Camera Operator
Street of Shadows (1937)
Assistant Camera
Life Is Ours (1936)
Director of Photography