Weekly Movie Challenge

Henri Alekan

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.

Actor

Faraway, So Close!

1993

as Captain

Cinématon XXXIV

1984

as N°330

Stranger on the Prowl

1952

as Priest on Bicycle

Documentaries

Jean Cocteau: Lies and Truths

1997

as Self

Screening at the Majestic

1997

as Self - Interviewee

Le travail d'un cinéaste : Julien Duvivier, 1896-1967

1996

as Self

Carné, You Said Carné?

1994

The Other Eye

1991

as Self

Max Ophüls - Den schönen guten Waren

1990

as Self

Alekan, la lumière

1988

as Self

7 False Connections

1984

as Self

Cinématon n°330 : Henri Alekan

1984

as Self

Our Nazi

1984

as Self

Camera

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

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

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

The Poppy Is Also a Flower

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 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

Henri Alekan

Actor

Documentaries

Directing

Camera

Crew