[3] Born in Linz, Austria-Hungary to the son of a school-teacher,[4] he changed his name to Alexander Hammid when he became a citizen of the United States in 1942.

The same year he also organized the Exhibition of New Czech Photography in the Aventinská Mansarda—a showcase for artists of the Aventinum publishing house in Prague—and the first show of European avant-garde films in the Kotva Cinema, also in Prague.

He contributed to the illustrated weekly Pestrý týden and also published a number of articles on photography and film, in which he formulated the new aesthetics of both fields.

Created together with director Elmar Klos and cinematographer Jan Lukas in 1937, it featured an avant-garde style montage of auto tires in motion.

[6] During the late 1930s he collaborated with the American filmmaker Herbert Kline on the feature-length documentary Crisis (1939) and moved to the USA where he met and married Maya Deren.

In 1944, he directed a documentary featuring conductor Arturo Toscanini, Hymn of the Nations, produced by the Office of War Information.

Hammid worked in partnership with filmmaker Francis Thompson for over 25 years, producing numerous “in-house” documentaries as well as several films for general viewership.

[8] Austrian film director, Martina Kudláček directed, documentary, Aimless Walk: Alexander Hammid (1996) based on his life and work.

[4] The Academy Film Archive has preserved Arturo Toscanini: Conducting Music of Giuseppe Verdi and Library of Congress by Alexandr Hackenschmied.