Alexandr Hackenschmied
Born as A. Hackenschmied. Born 1907 in Linz, he grew up in Prague. Leading avant-garde photographer and filmmaker in Czechoslovakia between the two world wars. Made his first silent experimental film, Bezúčelná Procházka (Aimless Walk) in 1930. Working as a cinematographer for the leftist American documentarian Herbert Kline, he fled Czechoslovakia in 1938 to the US where he met and married Eleonora Derenkowskaya who took the name, perhaps with his advice, of Maya Deren, much as he too took a new name. With her he collaborated on the classic avant-garde film Meshes in the Afternoon (1943) that established her reputation that survived their divorce (1942-47). In the 1960s, Hammid began collaborating with the sometime painter Francis Thompson on multi-screen films: To Be Alive (1964). Later Hammid and Thompson, among the great collaborations in modern film, produced To Fly! (1976), first IMAX format film, which premiered at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) at the museum’s grand opening celebration on July 1, 1976; produced in conjunction with MacGillivray Freeman Films, it continues to play regularly at the Air and Space Museum. Died 2004 in New York City.
- Bibliography
- Book: Michael Omasta (ed.): Tribute to Sasha (Vienna: SYNEMA, 2002) (German/English), http://www.schaden.com/book/HacAle01467.html
- Documentary Film: Aimless Walk: Alexander Hammid (1996, 48 minutes) directed by Martina Kudlacek
http://www.ubu.com/film/hammid.html
http://hammid.wz.cz/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hammid
