Person
Henri Alekan
Paris, France
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 br…
IMDbKnown for
Popular titles
Biography
A closer look
Read full 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.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2001
Jean Cocteau, cinéaste
Movie Self
-
1997
Jean Cocteau: Lies and Truths
Movie Self
-
1997
Screening at the Majestic
Movie Self - Interviewee
- 1996
-
1994
Carné, You Said Carné?
Movie Self
-
1993
Faraway, So Close!
Movie Captain
-
1993
Golem: The Petrified Garden
Movie Director of Photography
-
1992
Golem, the Spirit of Exile
Movie Director of Photography
-
1991
The Other Eye
Movie Self
-
1991
paint'o jazz
Movie Director of Photography
-
1990
Max Ophüls - Den schönen guten Waren
Movie Self
-
1990
Birth of a Golem
Movie Director of Photography
-
1990
Cézanne: Conversation with Joachim Gasquet
Movie Director of Photography
-
1989
J'écris dans l'espace
Movie Director of Photography
-
1989
Berlin-Jerusalem
Movie Director of Photography
-
1988
Alekan, la lumière
Movie Self
More credits
-
1987
Wings of Desire
Movie Director of Photography
-
1987
40° à l'ombre
TV show Self
-
1986
Esther
Movie Director of Photography
-
1985
A Strange Love Affair
Movie Director of Photography
-
1984
7 False Connections
Movie Self
-
1984
Wundkanal
Movie Director of Photography
-
1984
Cinématon XXXIV
Movie N°330
-
1984
Cinématon n°330 : Henri Alekan
Movie Self
-
1984
Our Nazi
Movie Self
-
1983
A Stone in the Mouth
Movie Director of Photography
-
1983
The Beautiful Prisoner
Movie Director of Photography
-
1982
En rachâchant
Movie Director of Photography
-
1982
The Trout
Movie Director of Photography
-
1982
The State of Things
Movie Director of Photography
-
1982
On Top of the Whale
Movie Director of Photography
-
1981
The Territory
Movie Director of Photography
-
1979
La Dame de Monte-Carlo
Movie Cinematography
-
1978
Ciné regards
TV show Self
-
1978
The Divisions of Nature
Movie Director of Photography
-
1975
Gun Moll
Movie Director of Photography
-
1971
Red Sun
Movie Director of Photography
-
1970
Figures in a Landscape
Movie Director of Photography
-
1969
Fun and Games for Everyone
Movie Director of Photography
-
1969
The Christmas Tree
Movie Director of Photography
