The youngest of three daughters, Altina Schinasi’s (1907-1999) parents were Sephardic Jews of modest means who immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey in the late 19th Century. An industrious man, Altina’s father would amass a fortune from tobacco before her birth, allowing her and her sisters to be raised in a world of privilege on New York’s Upper West Side.
Directed by her grandson Peter Sanders, Altina looks at the unconventional path taken by this artist, and adventurer, at a time when women of wealth were expected to become debutantes, and marry well. Instead, Altina opted to study in Paris, and wasn’t afraid to claim an active libido, and married four times throughout her life, the last one, Cuban artist Tino Miranda, a handsome hunk less than half her age.
Altina was perhaps best known for designing the harlequin eyeglass frame, for which she won the 1939 American Design Award. Celebrities such as Judy Holiday, and Lucille Ball took a liking to them, assuring their success. While Altina set opened an office where she oversaw production and marketing of the frames, eventually she sold the business to follow her next artistic endeavor.
Whether it was sculpture, painting, Altina was interested, but the film makes it clear that nothing brought her more pleasure than doting on her two sons, Dennis and Terry. Even with all this, she found time to march with Dr. Martin Luther King, She had also helped friends escape the Holocaust, and it was that experience that led to her involvement with the documentary A Time out for War, which focused on Nazi brutality, and was nominated for an Oscar in 1954. Ever concerned with social justice, during HUAC hearing led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950’s, Altina safeguarded the director John Berry (He Ran All the Way), in her Beverly Hills home, when he was trying to avoid a subpoena.
While Mr. Sanders has painted a worthy, and vivid portrait of his grandmother, if Altina has any flaw, it’s that it leaves you wanting to know more about this fascinating lady. The documentary is aided greatly by the fact that Altina tells much of her own story, courtesy of a two-hour interview shot in 1991.
In English and Spanish with subtitles.
DVD Extras: Reflections on Altina; and a photo and art gallery.
To see a trailer for Altina, visit:
