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'', ''

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 mode ...

'', ''

Rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

'', ''...A Valparaiso'', '' Misère au Borinage'' (''Borinage''), '' 17th Parallel: Vietnam in War'', '' The Seine Meets Paris'', '' Far from Vietnam'', ''Pour le Mistral'' and '' How Yukong Moved the Mountains''.

Early life and education

Born Georg Henri Anton Ivens on 18 November 1898 at

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

, Netherlands, 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. He studied first at the Rotterdam School of Economics (1916–17, 1920–21), before serving as a

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support army, armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the ear ...

lieutenant in World War I. In 1922 and 1923 he studied

photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 Nanometre, nm), visible ligh ...

in Germany. Returning to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 1926, he joined the family business, but left around 1929 after his first two films were met with acclaim.

Career

Early work

Originally his work was constructivist in character, especially his short city symphonies ''

'' (''Regen'', 1929), which he directed together with Mannus Franken, filmed over two years, and '' The Bridge'' (''De Brug'', 1928). The latter was about a newly built elevator railway bridge in Rotterdam, shot in 1927, and shown in 1928 by the ''Nederlandsche Filmliga'' (Netherlands Film League) (1927–1933). This avant-garde cineclub, with its eponymous magazine, had just been established by Ivens,

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 th ...

, and others, with branches in different Dutch cities. ''The Bridge'' was part of its first season of film screenings, and received critical acclaim. The ''Filmliga'' drew various foreign filmmakers to the Netherlands, such as Alberto Cavalcanti,

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. H ...

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

Vsevolod Pudovkin Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪl(ː)ərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 28 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter and acto ...

, and Dziga Vertov, who also became Ivens' friends. Through these connections, ''The Bridge'' was widely shown abroad, including the Soviet Union. In 1929, Ivens went to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

after being invited to present a lecture there, and due to the success of ''The Bridge'', he 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, on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River. Its population is curre ...

. 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. 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 Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's Five Year Plan. With Henri Storck, Ivens made '' Misère au Borinage'' (''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; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

, including ''Action Stations'', about the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

'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, ...

. Ivens met

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

and Ludwig Renn during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

in 1936.

U.S. and World War II

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-Upshur High School#History, Buck ...

'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 2019, 770 million ...

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, better known for his anti-

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

and other propaganda films, including the feature-length documentary ''

'' (1937). This film was made for the Spanish Republican cause, co-written with

, with music by

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

and Virgil Thomson.

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...

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

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

' version had sounded too theatrical). This film was financed by

Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...

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 stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, page 95. As ...

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, prose writer, Memoir, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway as well as her communist views and political activism. She was black ...

, Luise Rainer,

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, and other Hollywood movie stars, moguls, and writers who composed a group known as the Contemporary Historians. '' The Spanish Earth '' was shown at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

on 8 July 1937 after Ivens, Hemingway, and Martha Gellhorn had had dinner with President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

, and

Harry Hopkins Harold 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 ser ...

. The Roosevelts loved the film but said that it needed more propaganda. The film showed how the Republicans tried to hold on to freedoms which were threatened by the Falangists, and their attempts to reclaim farmland which had been neglected for decades by

absentee landlord In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 b ...

s. Ivens produced the film for less than $10,000. This documentary was considered his masterpiece. In 1938 he traveled to China. '' The 400 Million'' (1939) depicted the history of modern China and the Chinese resistance during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, including dramatic shots of the Battle of Taierzhuang. Robert Capa did camerawork,

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...

worked on the film as a reader, Hanns Eisler wrote the musical score, and

provided the narration. It had been financed by the same people who had supported ''Spanish Earth''. Its chief fundraiser was Luise Rainer, recipient of the best actress

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

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

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

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 ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and especially

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...

. In early 1943,

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...

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. 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 , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

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 Harry S. Truman's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 33rd president of the United States began on April 12, 1945, upon the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and ended on January 20, 1953. He had been Vice President ...

. Ivens's 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 and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...

. Walter Wanger, 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 maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

; 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. For around a decade Ivens lived in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

, working for several studios there. Having been criticized in the Netherlands, the tides were turning in the 1960s. In 1965, the city of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

commissioned him to make a film about the port, which was meant to be a promotional film, but Ivens got ''carte blanche''. The result, the essay-film ''Rotterdam Europoort'' (1966), is not only critical of modern city planning and consumerism, but also an autobiographical tale inspired by the legend of the

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' () is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the sea forever. The myths and ghost stories are likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dutch East India C ...

. Ivens was very happy with the result and even believed that it was his best film. At about the same time, from 1965 to 1970, Ivens also worked on two documentary films about

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

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''). From 1971 to 1977, he shot '' How Yukong Moved the Mountains'', a 763-minute documentary about the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

in China. Shortly before his death in 1989, Ivens released the last of more than 40 films: '' Une histoire de vent'' (''A Tale of the Wind'').

Recognition and awards

Ivens was awarded the

Lenin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel ...

for the year 1967. In 1988 he received the Golden Lion Honorary Award at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

. He received the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

in January 1989.

Personal life

Ivens met photographer

Germaine Krull Germaine Luise Krull (20 November 1897 – 31 July 1985) was a photographer, political activist, and hotel owner.Sichel, Kim. ''Germaine Krull: Photographer of Modernity''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1999. . Her nationality has been cate ...

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." Ivens later married French filmmaker and writer Marceline Loridan. They had no children.

Death and legacy

On 7 June 1989 Ivens spoke to Radio Netherlands about his life and work in a wide-ranging interview. He died on 28 June 1989. He was buried at the Cimetière du Montparnasse in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The Joris Ivens Award was awarded at the

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Description IDFA is an independent, international meeting place for audiences ...

from 1988, before being renamed the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary between 2006 and 2009. It was presented annually until 2020, when the category was split. the Prix du premier film Loridan-Ivens (First Film Loridan-Ivens Award) is awarded each year at the Cinéma du Réel film festival. The Loridan-Ivens Award was initiated by Loridan-Ivens to support emerging committed filmmakers "casting a sharp eye on the state of the world". It is given in honour of her husband Joris Ivens, who was an early supporter Cinéma du Réel. The prize was formerly known as the Joris Ivens Prize for a Young Filmmaker, or just Joris Ivens Award. A statue of Ivens by sculptor Bryan McCormack was erected in Parc de Saint-Cloud in Paris in 2010. The Joris Ivens European Foundation (Europese Stichting Joris Ivens) includes an archive of Ivens' work, as well as other features relating to him.

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'' (1934) *''

'' (1937) *'' The 400 Million'' (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 (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

'' (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) *'' How Yukong Moved the Mountains'' (1976) *''Les ouigours'' (1977) *''Les Kazaks'' (1977) *''The Drugstore'' (1980) *'' A Tale of the Wind'' (1988)

References

External links

European Foundation Joris Ivens
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivens, Joris 1898 births 1989 deaths People from Nijmegen Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Dutch communists Dutch documentary filmmakers Dutch film directors Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Recipients of the Lenin Peace Prize Dutch propagandists Propaganda film directors Expatriates in East Germany Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients