Aleksandar Lifka

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Aleksandar Lifka
Died12 November 1952(1952-11-12) (aged 72)
OccupationCinematographer
Years active1929–1969

Aleksandar Lifka (20 May 1880 – 12 November 1952) was an Yugoslav cinematographer.

Life

Former Lifka cinema in Linz

Lifka was born in

Queen Elisabeth to the town of Gödöllő, in Hungary.[2]

After his father's death, Lifka and his older brother Karl started a traveling movie theater. It had professional equipment (Gaumont, AEG, Körting) and had a luxurious interior. The first city in which they showed their films was Trieste, Italy. The tour continued in 1901 to Rijeka, Bjelovar, Osijek (Croatia), and Ljubljana (Slovenia), and in 1902 to Belgrade, Zemun, Újvidék (now Novi Sad, Serbia), and Szabadka (now Subotica, Serbia).[2]

In 1903, the Lifka brothers bought another tent, and Karl separated and settled in Linz and Salzburg. Aleksandar Lifka shot documentary film of some political events, and of common people in the towns he visited.

Lifka visited Szabadka again in 1905, and in 1910, he renovated the grand hall of Hungaria Hotel into a permanent movie theater. His wife, Beck Erzsébet, helped him to run the cinema. During World War I, he was hired by Filmkriegspresse to create films about battles in Galizia, where he was wounded. After the end of war, he returned to Subotica, which then belonged to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and stopped making films. Only twenty of his original films survived. After World War II, he accepted Yugoslav citizenship.

He died on 12 November 1952 at his vineyard. He is buried in Subotica.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Aleksandar Lifka". Monoskop.
  2. ^ a b c "Magyar film a palicsi fesztivál versenyprogramjában – Aleksandar Lifka-monográfiát mutatnak be Szerbiában". szabadsag.ro (in Hungarian).