Erica Anderson (filmmaker)
Erica Anderson (1914–1976) was an American film director, writer, and cinematographer.[1] She was among the first women working as a professional cameraperson in documentary and industrial films. Two documentary films on which she served a cinematographer received Academy Award nominations for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) in 1951, Grandma Moses,[2] and Best Documentary Feature in 1958, which it won, Albert Schweitzer.[3]
Early life and education[edit]
Anderson was born in Vienna, Austria, and lived in London before coming to New York to study with the New York school of Photography.[4]
Career[edit]
Anderson was initially a still photographer, which she practiced in Vienna and New York. According to one scholar, she may have been the first professional camerawoman in the US.[5] Between 1940-47, Anderson worked in a variety of roles such as researcher, writer, editor, camera operator, and director for United Specialists, Inc., Hartley Films, Creative Images, and others. Some of the films she made during this time included commissions for the Girl Scouts of America, General Dwight Eisenhower's visit to New York, the Duke of Windsor's stay in Washington, DC, and a travelogue of Pennsylvania for the Standard Oil Company.[6]
From 1947-50, she was a director employed at Falcon Films (along with Jerome Hill).[7] Two of the films made during this time, Henry Moore and French Tapestries Visit America might have been among the first 16mm color films shot in the US.
Collaborating with artist/filmmaker Jerome Hill, she provided the cinematography for two Oscar-nominated biographical documentary films. The first, a short about the octogenarian painter Grandma Moses, began, according to Hill, when he saw uncut material she had shot of Moses. As Hill describes it, "Erica had a fine eye for detail, a flair for the whimsical, and a highly developed sense of the drama."[8] To shoot Albert Schweitzer, Anderson spent the winters of 1952-4 in Lambaréné at the hospital with the famous doctor and humanitarian. the film took five years to complete and won the 1958 Acacdemy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
No Man is a Stranger, a 29-minute color film documenting the history and treatment of mental disorders in Haiti that Anderson shot and directed, was made available to professional groups by Schering Corporation and in cooperation with the Department of Mental Hygiene of the State of New York and the Republic of Haiti.[9][10]
Filmography[edit]
- They Need Not Die (for the American Red Cross)
- The Capitol (for the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs)
- Animals in the Service of Man (for the American Humane Society).
- Henry Moore (1947)
- French Tapestries Visit America (1948)
- Grandma Moses (1950), photography by
- A short on the Salzburg Seminar (195?)
- A Village is Waiting, for Unitarian Service Committee[11]
- Albert Schweitzer (1957), photography by
- No Man is a Stranger (1958), photographed and directed by
- The Living Work of Albert Schweitzer (1965)
- Albert Schweitzer; the Power of His Life (1974), photography by[12]
- For All That Lives: The Words of Albert Schweitzer (1974), photography by[13]
Publications[edit]
- The World of Albert Schweitzer. NY: Harper and Brothers, 1955.
- The Schweitzer Album. NY: Harper & Row, 1965.
References[edit]
- ^ "Erica Anderson, 62, a Film Maker And Schweitzer Associate, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "1951 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "1958 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ Aitken, Ian (2013-10-18). Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film 3-Volume Set. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-20620-8.
- ^ Starr, Cecile (1995-07-01). "Distaff Documentarians: Three American Pioneers". International Documentary Association. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ Cecile Starr, " Forgotten Trailblazer: Erica Anderson" Sightlines 18 (1/2), Fall/Winter 1984/85, p.15-18.
- ^ The Film Daily (1951). The thirty-third edition of the film daily year book of motion pictures : nineteen fifty-one. Media History Digital Library. New York : The Film Daily.
- ^ "Jerome Hill--Making a Documentary--Albert Schweitzer," Film Culture 2(12), 1957 , p.10-12.
- ^ "A Schering Film on Mental Illness in Haiti," Business Screen Magazine 4(23) 1962, p.44.
- ^ Schizophrenia Bulletin. U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration. 1972. p. 88.
- ^ Business Screen Magazine 1(24), 1963, p.179.
- ^ Library of Congress; Library of Congress. Catalog Maintenance Division (1953). Films. Prelinger Library. Ann Arbor, Mich : Edwards.
- ^ Library of Congress; Library of Congress. Catalog Maintenance Division (1953). Films. Prelinger Library. Ann Arbor, Mich : Edwards.
External links[edit]
- Erica Anderson at IMDb
- Erica Anderson Collection at Syracuse University