Hella Hammid
Crew
Biography
Hella Hammid, born Hella Hilde Heyman (15 July 1921 – 1 May 1992) was an American photographer whose career included teaching at UCLA. Her freelance photographs appeared in diverse publications including Life, Ebony, The Sun and The New York Times. Her softly backlit picture of two young Italian girls dancing, watched by other children in front of the abutments of a stone building, was chosen by Edward Steichen for his 1955 world-touring MoMA exhibition The Family of Man, which was seen by nine million visitors. Heyman married director and cinematographer Alexander Hammid (Alexandr Hackenschmied) in 1949 after his divorce in 1948 from Maya Deren (Eleanora Derenkowsky). The three worked together on Deren's films At Land (1944), Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946) and Invocation: Maya Deren (1987). In her early work as a cinematographer and actress, Heyman is sometimes also credited as Hella Hamon. From Wikipedia.
Known For
A social event choreographed in the manner of a dance, illuminated by concepts drawn from Greek legend; one of filmmaker Maya Deren's most intriguing works.
Ritual in Transfigured Time
A woman washes up on a beach and embarks on a surreal journey, encountering others and fragmented versions of herself in a quest for identity.
At Land
Maya Deren is a legend of avant-garde cinema. This authoritative biography of the charismatic filmmaker, poet and anthropologist features excerpts from her pioneering Meshes of the Afternoon and her unfinished documentary on Haiti, interviews with Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, and recordings of her lectures. Narrated by actress Helen Mirren, this definitive documentary offers startling insights into one of the most intriguing, accomplished figures in cinema history.