Altina
Altina
| 12 September 2014 (USA)
Altina Trailers

You may not have heard the name, but after seeing this absorbing documentary, you will never forget her. Artist Altina Schinasi (1907—1999) led a fascinating life that intersected with key movements in 20th century American history. This absorbing documentary follows Altina from her birth to a wealthy Jewish family from Turkey, through her school days, her development as a sexually liberated artist, her political activism, her many marriages and her countless artistic achievements. A wonderful testament to an outstanding woman ahead of her time.

Reviews
Dynamixor

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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TrueHello

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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Micah Lloyd

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

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Bob

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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Larry Silverstein

This documentary, based on the life of Altina Schinasi (1907-1999) was a difficult film for me to rate, because on one hand I found her to be a talented and fascinating woman. However, on the other hand I felt like the movie only was giving a partial accounting of her life, especially since it was made by her grandson Peter Sanders, with other family members contributing to its' production. Thus I couldn't get past the distinct feeling like this was more a family project than not.Schinasi was an inventor, designer, sculptress, and painter, who was also active in political causes she believed in. She invented and patented the very popular Harlequin glasses and eye-wear for women. Her sculptures, some of which she called chairacters (combinations of benches and chairs with sculptured figures) are most striking and impressive, in my opinion.The doc goes into rather great detail about Schinasi's personal life, coming from great wealth (her father being a tobacco magnate), her 4 marriages, and 2 sons, with a lot of the detail coming from her own accounting (obviously interviews from years ago). Also, relatives, ex-husbands, and those that knew her contributed to the narration.During these interviews, Schinasi always seemed matter-of fact, despite any revelations she was making, with no emotions being displayed. At times, she even strangely was seemingly reading from some type of script. I imagine this would make sense when it was revealed that when her eldest son Denis passed away suddenly, she did not cry at the time.Overall, I found this documentary quite interesting, as I knew nothing about Altina Schinasi before viewing it, but I felt the film was hampered by not showing what really made her tick. In other words, what inspired her to be so creative and talented and who she really was.

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