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

• 1993Faraway, So Close! — Captain
• 1993Golem: The Petrified Garden — Director of Photography
• 1992Golem, the Spirit of Exile — Director of Photography
• 1991paint'o jazz — Director of Photography
• 1990Birth of a Golem — Director of Photography
• 1990Cézanne: Conversation with Joachim Gasquet — Director of Photography
• 1989Berlin-Jerusalem — Director of Photography
• 1989J'écris dans l'espace — Director of Photography
• 1987Wings of Desire — Director of Photography
• 1986Esther — Director of Photography
• 1985A Strange Love Affair — Director of Photography
• 1984Cinématon XXXIV — N°330
• 1984Our Nazi — Self, Director of Photography
• 1984Wundkanal — Director of Photography
• 1983A Stone in the Mouth — Director of Photography
• 1983The Beautiful Prisoner — Director of Photography
• 1982En rachâchant — Director of Photography
• 1982On Top of the Whale — Director of Photography
• 1982The State of Things — Director of Photography
• 1982The Trout — Director of Photography
• 1981The Territory — Director of Photography
• 1979La Dame de Monte-Carlo — Cinematography
• 1978The Divisions of Nature — Director of Photography
• 1975Gun Moll — Director of Photography
• 1971Red Sun — Director of Photography
• 1970Figures in a Landscape — Director of Photography
• 1969Fun and Games for Everyone — Director of Photography
• 1969Ici et maintenant — Director of Photography
• 1969The Christmas Tree — Director of Photography
• 1968Mayerling — Director of Photography
• 1966The Poppy Is Also a Flower — Director of Photography
• 1966Triple Cross — Director of Photography
• 1965Lady L — Director of Photography
• 1964The Story of Rebecca — Director of Photography
• 1964Topkapi — Director of Photography
• 1963The Other Christopher — Director of Photography
• 1962Five Miles to Midnight — Director of Photography
• 1962Tales of Paris — Director of Photography
• 1961Black Tights — Director of Photography
• 1960Austerlitz — Director of Photography
• 1959Rodin's Hell — Director of Photography
• 1959The Great Deception — Director of Photography
• 1959Twelve Hours by the Clock — Director of Photography
• 1958The Magic of the Kite — Director of Photography
• 1958Would-Be Gentleman — Director of Photography
• 1957Paris Casino — Director of Photography
• 1957The Case of Dr. Laurent — Director of Photography
• 1957Typhoon Over Nagasaki — Director of Photography
• 1955Frou-Frou — Director of Photography
• 1955Heroes and Sinners — Camera Operator
• 1955The Best Part — Director of Photography
• 1954Queen Margot — Director of Photography
• 1954The Impure Ones — Director of Photography
• 1953Julietta — Director of Photography
• 1953Roman Holiday — Director of Photography
• 1953When You Read This Letter — Director of Photography
• 1952Forbidden Fruit — Director of Photography
• 1952Stranger on the Prowl — Priest on Bicycle, Director of Photography
• 1952Three Women — Director of Photography
• 1951Juliette, or Key of Dreams — Director of Photography
• 1951Paris Is Always Paris — Director of Photography
• 1951Trip to America — Director of Photography
• 1950Just Me — Director of Photography
• 1950Marie of the Port — Director of Photography
• 1949Such a Pretty Little Beach — Director of Photography
• 1949The Lovers of Verona — Director of Photography
• 1948Anna Karenina — Director of Photography
• 1947The Damned — Director of Photography
• 1947Woman of Evil — Director of Photography
• 1946Beauty and the Beast — Director of Photography
• 1946The Battle of the Rails — Director of Photography
• 1944The Little Ones of the Flower Platform — Director of Photography
• 1943Ceux du rail — Director of Photography
• 1943Les Chevaux du Vercors — Camera Operator
• 1941Blind Venus — Director of Photography
• 1940The Musicians of the Sky — Cinematography
• 1938Hatred — Camera Operator
• 1938Port of Shadows — Camera Operator
• 1938The Shanghai Drama — Assistant Camera
• 1937La Danseuse rouge — Director of Photography
• 1937Street of Shadows — Assistant Camera
• 1936Life Is Ours — Director of Photography
• 1932Fanny — Assistant Camera

Appearances as themselves (13)

• 2001Jean Cocteau, cinéaste — Self
• 1997Jean Cocteau: Lies and Truths — Self
• 1997Screening at the Majestic — Self - Interviewee
• 1996Le travail d'un cinéaste : Julien Duvivier, 1896-1967 — Self
• 1994Carné, You Said Carné? — Self
• 1991The Other Eye — Self
• 1990Max Ophüls - Den schönen guten Waren — Self
• 1988Alekan, la lumière — Self
• 40° à l'ombre — Self
• 19847 False Connections — Self
• 1984Cinématon n°330 : Henri Alekan — Self
• Ciné regards — Self
• German Film Award — Self