{
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  "@id": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/person/2307/henri-alekan",
  "name": "Henri Alekan",
  "url": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/person/2307/henri-alekan",
  "knownForDepartment": "Camera",
  "description": "Henri Alekan (10 February 1909, Paris – 15 June 2001, Auxerre, Bourgogne) was a French cinematographer.\n\nAlekan 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.\n\nIn 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.\n\nHe 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.\n\nHe wrote one of the best books about cinematography Des lumières et des ombres (1984, Éditions du Collectionneur).\n\nAlekan died from leukemia on 15 June 2001 in Auxerre, Bourgogne, aged 92.\n\nSource: Article \"Henri Alekan\" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.",
  "birthDate": "1909-02-10",
  "deathDate": "2001-06-15",
  "birthPlace": "Paris, France",
  "alternateName": [
    "Henri Albert Alakan",
    "H. Alekan",
    "Henry Alekan",
    "Henri Alékan"
  ],
  "image": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/rL2bZDa889sNXZOxfPwieE9ZzBb.jpg",
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  "lastVerified": "9 May 2026",
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      "title": "Roman Holiday",
      "year": "1953",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 7.9,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/8lI9dmz1RH20FAqltkGelY1v4BE.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/804/roman-holiday-1953"
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      "tmdbId": 88943,
      "title": "German Film Award",
      "year": "1951",
      "role": "as Self",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6,
      "posterUrl": null,
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/tv/88943/german-film-award-1951"
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      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 144,
      "title": "Wings of Desire",
      "year": "1987",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 7.763,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/iZQs2vUeCzvS1KfZJ6uYNCGJBBV.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/144/wings-of-desire-1987"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 11842,
      "title": "Red Sun",
      "year": "1971",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
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      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/hDQyx0N8J5OJMJYpJLIX0SkKwT4.jpg",
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      "title": "Beauty and the Beast",
      "year": "1946",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 7.511,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/iYSe3yrkma0e1B0wWPXgr8w5sDN.jpg",
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      "tmdbId": 4375,
      "title": "Triple Cross",
      "year": "1966",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 6.068,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/AoGvqzc66h533Ncxjx3pSjy7Xmf.jpg",
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      "title": "Faraway, So Close!",
      "year": "1993",
      "role": "as Captain",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6.932,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/5VaPw0NgM4DloukmQTggzgvD4rb.jpg",
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      "title": "Topkapi",
      "year": "1964",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 6.51,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/3Q5psd2bvCMWFdQp4RvRDgxSiwg.jpg",
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      "title": "Mayerling",
      "year": "1968",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
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      "voteAverage": 6.219,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/7yV66NIGGJO3Th7KCn8I21Atwtf.jpg",
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      "tmdbId": 32066,
      "title": "Anna Karenina",
      "year": "1948",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 6,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/fWIjqoYdNSJFJIQtT9aaeCmjCeP.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/32066/anna-karenina-1948"
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      "mediaType": "tv",
      "tmdbId": 260856,
      "title": "40° à l'ombre",
      "year": "1987",
      "role": "as Self",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6,
      "posterUrl": null,
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/tv/260856/40-a-l-ombre-1987"
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      "tmdbId": 46326,
      "title": "Port of Shadows",
      "year": "1938",
      "role": "Camera Operator",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 7.411,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/2S8O2V50TZlXV8uabOvGUJ1i5CZ.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 50791,
      "title": "The Battle of Austerlitz",
      "year": "1960",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 6.638,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/cFeUHIXTaySLwJVx6Zwh8CVhe5b.jpg",
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      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 30363,
      "title": "The State of Things",
      "year": "1982",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
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      "voteAverage": 6.41,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/gHFOZph5GuFcDKe3Xgmrcc2sYwP.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 119482,
      "title": "The Poppy Is Also a Flower",
      "year": "1966",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 5.909,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/sTrajryJ264PcANe0JCahq14MDy.jpg",
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      "tmdbId": 68383,
      "title": "Queen Margot",
      "year": "1954",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 7.125,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/nIz5K1elU74DONrbf8HeYuRnS5V.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/68383/queen-margot-1954"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 15469,
      "title": "Five Miles to Midnight",
      "year": "1962",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 5.82,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/4pZA2D3EGZrLBh3LWFDiurSjsYE.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 71006,
      "title": "Lady L",
      "year": "1965",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 5.78,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/dyH9h8H897au6Rf7PTipN4MrZEo.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/71006/lady-l-1965"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 74403,
      "title": "The Christmas Tree",
      "year": "1969",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 6.2,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/oII9YeBtGkqsTh2mlzBEdV47pKV.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/74403/the-christmas-tree-1969"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 311040,
      "title": "Typhoon Over Nagasaki",
      "year": "1957",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 6.214,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/xIMfedcJeRvjyPGc4r3rwBvr1Ho.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/311040/typhoon-over-nagasaki-1957"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 78183,
      "title": "The Case of Dr. Laurent",
      "year": "1957",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 7.017,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/75XMdGax4u8AEvKiKzTrVtfxUKu.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/78183/the-case-of-dr-laurent-1957"
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    {
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      "tmdbId": 43146,
      "title": "Fanny",
      "year": "1932",
      "role": "Assistant Camera",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 7.5,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/8hY9A0mWwVXhgdV1S2YKxSp1ruS.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/43146/fanny-1932"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 67495,
      "title": "The Lovers of Verona",
      "year": "1949",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 5,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/2fUMWJ0Dbur1PPdA13SMGFIqZSl.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/67495/the-lovers-of-verona-1949"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 92238,
      "title": "The Trout",
      "year": "1982",
      "role": "Director of Photography",
      "roleKind": "crew",
      "voteAverage": 5.917,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/9p9119YyTz43a8I4amfy0hEwCBw.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/92238/the-trout-1982"
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  ]
}