Tombe Joris Ivens, Cimetière du Montparnasse

Georg Henri Anton "Joris" Ivens (18 November 1898 – 28 June 1989) was a Dutch documentary filmmaker. Among the notable films he directed or co-directed are ''

A Tale of the Wind ''A Tale of the Wind'' (french: Une Histoire de vent) is a 1988 French film directed by Joris Ivens and Marceline Loridan. It is also known as ''A Wind Story''. It stars Ivens as he travels in China and tries to capture winds on film, while he re ...

'', ''

The Spanish Earth ''The Spanish Earth'' is a 1937 anti-fascist film made during the Spanish Civil War in support of the democratically elected Republicans, whose forces included a wide range from the political left like communists, socialists, anarchists, to moder ...

'', ''

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

'', ''...A Valparaiso'', ''

Misère au Borinage ''Misère au Borinage'' ( French; ), also known as ''Borinage'', is a 1934 Belgian documentary film directed by Henri Storck and Joris Ivens. Produced during the Great Depression, the film's theme is intensely socialist, covering the poor living ...

'' (''Borinage''), '' 17th Parallel: Vietnam in War'', '' The Seine Meets Paris'', '' Far from Vietnam'', ''Pour le Mistral'' and ''

How Yukong Moved the Mountains ''How Yukong Moved the Mountains'' (french: Comment Yukong déplaça les montagnes) is a series of 12 documentary films directed by Marceline Loridan-Ivens and Joris Ivens about the Cultural Revolution. Ivens and his partner Loridan worked on th ...

''.

Early life and career

Born Georg Henri Anton Ivens into a wealthy family, Ivens went to work in one of his father's photo supply shops and from there developed an interest in film. Under the direction of his father, he completed his first film at 13; in college he studied economics with the goal of continuing his father's business, but an interest in class issues distracted him from that path. He met photographer Germaine Krull in Berlin in 1923, and entered into a marriage of convenience with her between 1927 and 1943 so that Krull could hold a Dutch passport and could have a "veneer of married respectability without sacrificing her autonomy." Originally his work focused on technique, especially in ''

'' (''Regen'', 1929), a 10-minute short filmed over 2 years, and in '' The Bridge'' (''De Brug'', 1928). Around this time, along with

Menno ter Braak Menno ter Braak (26 January 1902 – 14 May 1940) was a Dutch modernist writer, critic, essayist, and journalist. Early career Ter Braak was born in Eibergen and grew up in the town of Tiel where he was an exemplary student. He went on to ...

and others, he was involved in the creation of the Dutch Film League ( ''De Nederlandsche Filmliga'') based in Amsterdam. The League drew foreign filmmakers to the Netherlands such as

Alberto Cavalcanti Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti (February 6, 1897 – August 23, 1982) was a Brazilian-born film director and producer. He was often credited under the single name "Cavalcanti". Early life Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of ...

René Clair René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...

Vsevolod Pudovkin Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪlərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwrite ...

, and Dziga Vertov, who also became his friends. In 1929, Ivens went to the Soviet Union and was invited to direct a film on a topic of his own choosing which was the new industrial city of

Magnitogorsk Magnitogorsk ( rus, Магнитого́рск, p=məɡnʲɪtɐˈɡorsk, ) is an industrial city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River. Its population ...

. Before commencing work, he returned to the Netherlands to make ''Industrial Symphony'' for Philips Electric which is considered to be a film of great technical beauty. He returned to the Soviet Union to make the film about Magnitogorsk, ''Song of Heroes '' in 1931 with music composed by

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...

. This was the first film on which Ivens and Eisler worked together. It was a propaganda film about this new industrial city where masses of laborers and communist youth worked for Stalin's Five Year Plan. With Henri Storck, Ivens made ''

'' (''Borinage'', 1933), a documentary on life in a coal mining region. In 1943, he also directed two Allied propaganda films for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...

, including ''Action Stations'', about the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack subma ...

's escorting of convoys in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

U.S. and World War II-era career

From 1936 to 1945, Ivens was based in the United States. For

Pare Lorentz Pare Lorentz (December 11, 1905 – March 4, 1992) was an American filmmaker known for his film work about the New Deal. Born Leonard MacTaggart Lorentz in Clarksburg, West Virginia he was educated at Buckhannon High School, West Virginia Wesl ...

's U.S. Film Service, in the year 1940, he made a documentary film on

rural electrification Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2017, over 1 billion ...

called ''Power and the Land''. It focused on a family, the Parkinsons, who ran a business providing milk for their community. The film showed the problem in the lack of electricity and the way the problem was fixed. Ivens was, however, known for his anti-

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

and other

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

s, including ''

'', for the Spanish Republicans, co-written with

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

and music by

Marc Blitzstein Marcus Samuel Blitzstein (March 2, 1905January 22, 1964), was an American composer, lyricist, and librettist. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro- union musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'', directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the W ...

and

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclass ...

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films '' ...

did the French narration for the film and Hemingway did the English version only after

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

' sounded too theatrical.. This film was financed by Archibald MacLeish,

Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...

Florence Eldridge Florence Eldridge (born Florence McKechnie, September 5, 1901 – August 1, 1988) was an American actress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her performance in '' Long Day's Journey into Night''. E ...

Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted aft ...

Luise Rainer Luise Rainer ( , ; 12 January 1910 – 30 December 2014) was a German-American-British film actress. She was the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her ...

Dudley Nichols Dudley Nichols (April 6, 1895 – January 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was the first person to decline an Academy Award, as part of a boycott to gain recognition for the Screen Writers Guild; he would later accept ...

Franchot Tone Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known ...

and other Hollywood movie stars, moguls, and writers who composed a group known as the

Contemporary Historians Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

. '' Spanish Earth '' was shown at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

on July 8, 1937 after Ivens, Hemingway,

Martha Gellhorn Martha Ellis Gellhorn (8 November 1908 – 15 February 1998) was an American novelist, travel writer, and journalist who is considered one of the great war correspondents of the 20th century. Gellhorn reported on virtually every major worl ...

, had had dinner with President Franklin D. Roosevelt,

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

and

Harry Hopkins Harry Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 – January 29, 1946) was an American statesman, public administrator, and presidential advisor. A trusted deputy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hopkins directed New Deal relief programs before servi ...

. The Roosevelts loved the film but said that it needed more propaganda. This 1937 documentary was considered his masterpiece. In 1938 he traveled to China. ''

The 400 Million ''The 400 Million'', also known as ''China in 1938'', was a 1939 black-and-white documentary film by Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens about the Second Sino-Japanese War, part of the East Asian theater of World War II. The filmmaker moved between the ...

'' (1939) depicted the history of modern China and the Chinese resistance during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

, including dramatic shots of the

Battle of Taierzhuang The Battle of Taierzhuang () was a battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, which was fought between the armies of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The battle was that war's first major Chinese victory. It humiliated the Jap ...

Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to b ...

did camerawork,

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), '' Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976 ...

worked on the film as a reader,

wrote the musical score, and

provided the narration. It, too, had been financed by the same people as those of ''Spanish Earth''. Its chief fundraiser was

, recipient of the best actress

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

two years in a row; and the entire group called themselves this time, ''History Today, Inc ''. The

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

government censored the film, fearing that it would give too much credit to left-wing forces. Ivens was also suspected of being a friend of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

and especially

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman M ...

. In early 1943,

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...

hired Ivens to supervise the production of ''Know Your Enemy: Japan '' for his U.S. War Department film series ''

Why We Fight ''Why We Fight'' is a series of seven propaganda films produced by the US Department of War from 1942 to 1945, during World War II. It was originally written for American soldiers to help them understand why the United States was involved in the ...

''. The film's commentary was written largely by

Carl Foreman Carl Foreman, CBE (July 23, 1914 – June 26, 1984) was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the award-winning films ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' and ''High Noon'', among others. He was one of the screenwriters who were black ...

. Capra fired Ivens from the project because he felt that his approach was too sympathetic toward the Japanese. The film's release was held up because there were concerns that

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

was being depicted as a war criminal, and there was a policy shift to portray the Emperor more favorably after the war as a means of maintaining order in post-war Japan. With the emerging "Red Scare" of the late 1940s, Ivens was forced to leave the country in the early months of the Truman administration. Ivens' leftist politics also put a stop to his first feature film project which was to have starred

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...

. In fact,

Walter Wanger Walter Wanger (born Walter Feuchtwanger; July 11, 1894 – November 18, 1968) was an American film producer active from the 1910s, his career concluding with the turbulent production of ''Cleopatra,'' his last film, in 1963. He began at Param ...

, the film's producer, was adamant about "running vensout of town."

Return to Europe

In 1946, commissioned to make a Dutch film about Indonesian 'independence', Ivens resigned in protest over what he considered ongoing

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic powe ...

; the Dutch were in his view resisting decolonization. Instead, Ivens filmed '' Indonesia Calling'' in secret, for which he received funding from the

International Workers Order The International Workers Order (IWO) was an insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951 on the grounds that the organizatio ...

. For around a decade Ivens lived in Eastern Europe, working for several studios there. His position concerning Indonesia and his taking sides for the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

in the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

annoyed the Dutch government. Over a period of many years, he was obliged to renew his passport every three or four months. According to later mythology however, he lost his passport for ten years, which is not true, as demonstrated by the fact that he was able to travel to New York City to sit by the bedside of his old friend

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplish ...

when he was ill. From 1965 to 1970 he worked on two documentary films about North Vietnam during the war: he made '' 17e parallèle: La guerre du peuple'' ''(17th Parallel: Vietnam in War)'' and he participated in the collective work ''

Loin du Vietnam ''Far from Vietnam'' (french: Loin du Vietnam) is a 1967 French documentary film directed by Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker and Alain Resnais. Cast * Anne Bellec * Karen Blanguernon * ...

'' (''Far from Vietnam''). He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize for the year 1967. From 1971 to 1977, he shot ''

'', a 763-minute documentary about the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

in China. He was given unprecedented access because of his pro-communist views and his old personal friendships with

and

. He spoke to Radio Netherlands about his life and work in a wide-ranging interview. In 1988 Ivens received the Golden Lion Honorary Award at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

. He then received the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

in January 1989, and died on 28 June that year. Shortly before his death he released the last of more than 40 films '' Une histoire de vent'' (''A Tale of the Wind''). A statue of Ivens by sculptor Bryan McCormack was erected in the Parc de Saint-Cloud in Paris in 2010.

Filmography

*''The Flaming Arrow'' (1912) *''O, Sunland'' (1922) *''The Sunhouse'' (1925) *''Film Sketchbook'' (1927) *''The Sick Town'' (1927) *''Instruction Films Micro Camera, University Leiden'' (1927) *''Movement Studies in Paris'' (1927) *''Filmstudy Zeedijk'' (1927) *''The Street'' (1927) *''Ice Skating'' (1927) *'' The Bridge'' (1928) *''

'' (1929) *''Breakers'' (1929) *''Poor Drenthe'' (The Misery in the Peat-mores of Drenthe) (1929) *''Pile Diving'' (1929) *''Zonneland'' (1930) *''We are building'' (1930) *''Second Union Film'' (1930) *''Zuiderzee'' (1930) *''Tribune Film'' (1930) *''Concrete Construction'' (1930) *''Donogoo-Tonka'' (1931) *''Philips Radio'' (1931) *''Creosote'' (1932) *''Komsomol,'' (Song of Heroes, Youth Speaks) (1932) *''New Earth'' (1933) *''

Borinage The Borinage () is an area in the Walloon province of Hainaut in Belgium. The name derives from the coal mines of the region, ''bores'' meaning mineshafts. In French the inhabitants of the Borinage are called Borains. The provincial capital ...

'' (1934) *''

'' (1937) *''

'' (1938) *''New Frontiers'' (1940) *''Power and the Land'' (1940)Released to DVD as part of a compilation. See *''Our Russian Front'' (1942) *''Action Stations'' (1943) *''Corvette Port Arthur'' (1943) *'' Know Your Enemy: Japan'' (1945) (uncredited) *'' Indonesia Calling'' (1946) *''The First Years'' (1948) *''Friendship Triumphs'' (1952) *''Peace Tour 1952'' (1952) *''

Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

'' (article in Italian) (1952-1960) *'' The Song of the Rivers'' (1954) *''My Child'' (1956) *'' The Windrose / Rose of the Winds'' (1957) *''The war of the 600 Million People'' (1958) *''Letters from China'' (1958) *'' L'Italia non è un paese povero'' (article in Italian) (1960) *''Demain à Nanguila'' (1960) *''Carnet de viaje'' (1961) *''Pueblo en armas'' (1961) *''Le petit chapiteau'' (1963) *''Le train de la victoire'' (1964) *'' ...A Valparaiso (article in French)'' (1965) *''Le mistral'' (1965) *''Rotterdam Europoort'' (1966) *''Le ciel - La terre'' (1967) *'' Far from Vietnam'' (1967) *''Une histoire de ballon'' (1967) *'' 17th Parallel: Vietnam in War'' (1968) *''Le people et ses fusills'' (1970) *''

'' (1976) *''Les ouigours'' (1977) *''Les Kazaks'' (1977) *''The Drugstore'' (1980) *''

'' (1988)

References

External links