Alexander Hammid

Alexander Hammid born Alexandr Hackenschmied 17 December 1907 Linz  26 July 2004 New York City was a leading photographer film director cinematographer and editor in Czechoslovakia between the two world wars He immigrated to the US in 1938 and became involved in American avantgarde cinema He is best known known for his film Crisis 1939 Meshes of the Afternoon 1943 and To Be Alive1964 He made Meshes of the Afternoon with his wife Maya Derento whom he was married from 1942 to 1947 He won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for To Be Alive 1964 which he codirected with Francis Thompson