Ernst A. Heiniger

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Ernst Albrecht Heiniger (born August 4, 1909 in Engwang ; † July 19, 1993 in Los Angeles ), from Eriswil (BE), was a Swiss photographer , filmmaker and Oscar winner .

Life

From 1925 to 1928 Heiniger completed an apprenticeship as a positive retoucheur . He also attended the evening class at the Zurich School of Applied Arts .

His first photographs were taken from 1929. In 1932 he went on a study trip to the Soviet Union, where he made the acquaintance of the director SM Eisenstein . Together with Heiri Steiner (1906–1983) he ran a studio for graphics and photography in Zurich from 1934 to 1939. In 1937 he worked on the Swiss pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris. In the 1940s he made several films for the PTT.

Ernst and Jeanne Heiniger at Hance Rapids, Grand Canyon National Park, April, 1958

In 1948 Heiniger received an award at the Venice Biennale for his camera work on “Sul Bernina”. At the world exhibition of photography in Lucerne he met Walt Disney in 1952 . After marrying Helen Feaster in 1953, Heiniger made several films for the Disney Corporation between 1953 and 1958. The films Ama Girls (best documentary 1957) and Grand Canyon (best short film 1958) each received an Oscar.

After studying in Africa in 1960/61, he began working on the Circarama film All About Wheel and Rail for the Swiss national exhibition Expo 64 on behalf of Disney and the SBB . After filming Switzerland for the 1967 World Exhibition in Montreal, he was awarded the Zurich Film Prize in 1968 .

In the 1970s, Heiniger worked on the development of a new 360 ° film system, the Swissorama, in addition to his book publications and an exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich (1975) . In 1982 the first film Impressions of Switzerland went into production. In 1984 the opening ceremony of the Swissorama took place in the Verkehrshaus Luzern .

Heiniger's system was the first seamless cylindrical 360 ° film system. In 1986 he moved to Los Angeles with his wife and worked with the Iwerks company on technical improvements to their Swissorama system. The films Shikoku Alive for an exhibition in Japan and Das Panorama Berlin for a dome cinema near Ku'damm in Berlin were produced between 1987 and 1989 under the new name Imagine 360 .

Heiniger died in Los Angeles in 1993. His dream of a worldwide network of 360 ° cinemas did not come true - with the closure of the Swissorama in Lucerne in 2002, the last type of this film system disappeared forever.

Books

  • Puszta horses (Zurich 1936)
  • The Photo Book of the National Exhibition (Zurich 1939)
  • Ticino (Zurich 1941)
  • Four-thousanders. A picture book of the beauty of our Alps (Zurich 1942)
  • The Year of the Photographer (Zurich 1952)
  • Grand Canyon , nature and wildlife in 157 color photos. Kümmerly & Frey Geographischer Verlag, Bern 1971, ISBN 3-405-11024-6 .
  • The Great Book of Jewels (Lausanne 1974)

Filmography

  • 1942: The telephone cable
  • 1943: The telephone set
  • 1944: From wire to cable
  • 1945: The telephone exchange
  • 1948: Sul Bernina
  • 1953: Schellen-Ursli
  • 1954: Switzerland
  • 1957: Japan
  • 1956–1957: Ama Girls (TV series in 13 parts)
  • 1958: Grand Canyon
  • 1965–1967: Switzerland
  • 1964: All about wheels and rails
  • 1984: Impressions of Switzerland
  • 1988: Shikoku Alive
  • 1989: Destination Berlin

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Heiniger, Ernst A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heiniger, Ernst Albrecht (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss photographer and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Engwang
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1993
Place of death los Angeles