Joris Ivens

Joris Ivens

Joris Ivens (November 18 1898, Nijmegen–June 28 1989, Paris) was a Dutch documentary filmmaker and devout communist. He is generally respected as one of the foremost documentarists of the twentieth century but is criticised for his support for communist dictators like Joseph Stalin. According to author Stephen Koch in his book "The Breaking Point", Ivens was an active member of Comintern. Among his tasks was to discredit the author, John Dos Passos, in the eyes of the international left, by having him labelled a "Trotskyist".

Early Career

Probably the best known of his early films is his 10-minute short "Rain" ("Regen", 1929). Born into a wealthy family, Ivens went to work in his father's photo supply shop and from there developed an interest in film. 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. Originally his work focused on technique--some argue that it had that focus at the cost of relevance, especially in "Rain," filmed over 2 years and featuring impressive cinematography and a number of "characters" (but no information about them aside from what was visible) and in "The Bridge" ("De Brug", 1928), which showed a frank admiration of engineering and also featured a number of "characters" but again did not give any information about them.

In 1931 Ivens went to the Soviet-Union to make "Song of Heroes", a propaganda film about the construction of the new industrial city of Magnitogorsk. This city was mainly built by forced labourers, who however were portrayed by Ivens as communist volunteers. Ivens later referred to these forced labourers as 'weed'.

With Henri Storck, Ivens made "Misère au Borinage" ("Borinage", 1933) with, a moving and militant documentary about life in a coal mining region. In 1943, he also directed two Allied propaganda films for the National Film Board of Canada. [http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/resultat.php?type=fonction&idFcr=7845&idFct=01&nom=Joris+Ivens&nomfunc=Director]

U.S. Career and post-World War II

From 1936 to 1945, Ivens lived in the United States and made anti-fascist and other propaganda films, including the propaganda piece for the Spanish loyalists "The Spanish Earth", narrated by Ernest Hemingway. Due to the US government crackdown on known or suspected Communists, Ivens left the United States.

In 1946, commissioned to make a Dutch film about Indonesian "independence," Ivens resigned out of protest of what he considered ongoing imperialism. For about a decade Ivens lived in Eastern Europe, working for several studios there. His position concerning Indonesia and his taking sides for the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War 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. From 1965 to 1970 he filmed life in North Vietnam during the war: "" "(17th Parallel: Vietnam in War)" and participated in the collective work "Loin du Vietnam" "(Far from Vietnam)".

From 1971 to 1977, he filmed "How Yukong Moved the Mountain," a 763-minute documentary about the Cultural Revolution in China. Ivens was knighted by the Dutch government in 1989, and died on June 28 that same year. Shortly before his death he made the last of more than 40 films "Une histoire de vent" ("A Tale of the Wind").

Joris Ivens was awarded Lenin Peace Prize for the year 1967.

Literature

*Kees Bakker (ed.), Joris Ivens and the Documentary Context, Paperback edition, Amsterdam University Press 2000
*Hans Schoots, Living Dangerously: A Biography of Joris Ivens, Amsterdam University Press 2000
*Virgilio Tosi, Cinema e Utopia, Rome, 2002 ISBN 88-8319-745-3

External Links

* [http://www.ivens.nl/ European Foundation Joris Ivens]
* [http://www.hansschoots.nl website of Ivens-biographer Hans Schoots]
Please click "English". A Dutch version can be found via "Film".
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6116317302528927760 "De Brug"] , [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4732252819192805216 "Regen"] and [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9053662525315047949 "The Spanish Earth"] , [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9184691741920285572 "The 400 Million"] at Google Video
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412235/ Joris Ivens at the Internet Movie Database]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Joris Ivens — (links) mit Ernest Hemingway (Mitte) und Ludwig Renn im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg. Joris Ivens (* 18. November 1898 in Nijmegen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joris Ivens — es un realizador holandés nacido el 18 noviembre de 1898 en Nimega, Países Bajos y murió el 28 de junio de 1989 en París. Joris Ivens Contenido 1 Bio …   Wikipedia Español

  • Joris Ivens — est un réalisateur néerlandais, né le 18 novembre 1898 à Nimègue aux Pays Bas et décédé le 28 juin 1989 à Paris. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Filmographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ivens — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Artur Ivens Ferraz (1870–1933), portugiesischer General, Politiker und Ministerpräsident Björn Ivens (* 1969), Professor für Marketing an der Betriebs und Volkswirtschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joris — ist eine niederländische sowie friesische Variante sowohl von Georg als auch von Gregor[1]. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Bekannte Namensträger 1.1 Vorname 1.2 Familienname …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ivens — may refer to: * Roberto Ivens (1850 1898), Portuguese explorer of Africa * Joris Ivens (1898 1989), Dutch filmmaker ee also*Ivins (disambiguation page) …   Wikipedia

  • Ivens — Ivens, Joris …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Ivens — (Joris) (1898 1989) cinéaste néerlandais, auteur de documentaires engagés: Borinage (1933), Terre d Espagne (1937), le Ciel et la Terre (sur la lutte du peuple vietnamien, 1965), Comment Yukong déplaça les montagnes (1976) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Ivens — Ivens,   Joris, niederländischer Dokumentarfilmer, * Nimwegen 18. 11. 1898, ✝ Paris 29. 6. 1989; drehte überwiegend im Ausland; dokumentierte den Widerstand gegen soziale, wirtschaftliche, politische und militärische Unterdrückung.   Werke: Filme …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Ivens, Joris — ▪ Dutch director byname of  Georg Henri Anton Ivens   born Nov. 18, 1898, Nijmegen, Neth. died June 28, 1989, Paris, France       Dutch motion picture director who filmed more than 50 international documentaries that explored leftist social and… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”