Johan Ankerstjerne
Johan Ankerstjerne (born January 17, 1886 in Randers , Denmark , † August 20, 1959 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish cameraman , a pioneer of Scandinavian silent film .
Life
Along with Axel Graatkjær, Johan Ankerstjerne was considered the most important camera pioneer in Danish film. He trained as a watchmaker in his hometown of Randers , but soon switched to photography and began his film career as early as 1907. Initially employed as a cinema operator (simple cameraman), Ankerstjerne was hired as chief cameraman in 1911 by Nordisk , Denmark's largest production company . Many of these films, made up to the outbreak of World War I, including an early (1913), ambitious theatrical version of Arthur Schnitzler's Liebelei , were shown with great success in the German Empire. In the period that followed, Ankerstjerne filmed hundreds of works - mostly dramas, comedies and melodramas - under leading film directors of the time such as Benjamin Christensen and August Blom .
In 1915 he moved to the Dansk Biografkompagni, where he started with Christensen's drama Vache! ( Hævnens Nat ), the story of a man who innocently spent many years in prison was a success. Ankerstjerne's most artistically satisfying creative period began when he moved to Sweden in the early 1920s. There he created a dark, medieval world with his most important film Witches - Superstitions in the past and present . After he had finished working as a cameraman in 1924, Johan Ankerstjerne moved to Nordisk's technical department that same year. In 1931 he left the company. In 1932 Johan Ankerstjerne set up his own film laboratory ( copier ), which he ran until the end of his life. At the end of the war in 1945, the cinema pioneer was granted the license to run a cinema for the first time.
Ankerstjerne in honor of the Johan Ankerstjernes Fotografpris for the best performance as a cameraman in Danish film is awarded at irregular intervals as part of the Bodil film prize.
Filmography (selection)
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literature
- Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 121.
- Manfred Behn (Red.): Black dream and white slave. German-Danish film relations 1910–1930 (= A CineGraph book ). Edition Text and Criticism, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-88377-483-9 , p. 143.
Web links
- Johan Ankerstjerne in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Ankerstjerne, Johan |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish cameraman |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 17, 1886 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Randers , Denmark |
DATE OF DEATH | 20th August 1959 |
Place of death | Copenhagen |