The Film Society of Lincoln Center, The European Foundation Joris Ivens (EFJI) and Red Diaper Productions present Cinema Without Borders: The Films of Joris Ivens March 20 - 28, 2002 photo: BORINAGE, 1933. © Willy Kessels, Joris Ivens Archives / EFJI

about the series | film descriptions and times Reading over the filmography of Joris Ivens it's hard to believe that all of these films are linked to a single filmmaker. Here was an artist who was an active and respected member of the first European avant-garde film movement; who filmed the first Soviet Five-Year Plan, the Spanish Civil War and the American New Deal; who made one of the first essential anti-colonialist films, INDONESIA CALLING; and whose final film, made with his partner and wife, Marceline Loridan, is one of the most graceful and moving works of self-reflection in film history. Such a life was not without its contradictions. Few filmmakers have been awarded both the International Lenin Prize and the rank of Commander of the French Legion d'Honneur. How does one approach today films such as KOMSOMOL, with its celebration of the Stalinization of the Soviet economy, in light of our knowledge of that regime's subsequently revealed horrors? Yet what makes KOMSOMOL still a remarkable film is Ivens' ability to capture the spirit of hope and belief in progress exuded by his young subjects, transcending the specifics of the film's historical or political context. It is this belief in progress, this belief of human beings to make the world they live in a better place, that is perhaps the overriding theme of all of Ivens' work. Ivens became a filmmaker during the first European avant-garde, and his interest in the possibilities of film style and form remained a distinguishing feature of his work throughout his career. One can trace the evolution of his use of associative montage from early experiments such as THE BRIDGE or RAIN through such later masterworks as POUR LE MISTRAL, yet one can still feel the formalist influence even in more prosaic works such as POWER AND THE LAND, seen in Ivens' extraordinary attention to the composition of each shot. Ivens remains one of the few filmmakers to have made major contributions to both avant-garde and documentary filmmaking - although he probably would not have accepted these categories as oppositional or even distinct. In an age in which all images - photographic, cinematographic, digital, etc. - have come under such scrutiny and suspicion, it's perhaps the perfect moment to celebrate the achievement of Joris Ivens, an artist who came to stand in his work and his life for the belief that his images could not only capture the world but help change it as well. A selection of rarely exhibited photos by and about Ivens from the extensive collections of the EFJI will be on view in the Frieda and RoyÚ Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater throughout the retrospective. A symposium with leading film scholars on Ivens' work will take place in the Furman Gallery on Saturday, March 23, and a catalogue of the retropsective will be available then. Following the NYC screenings the Ivens retrospective will travel to eight venues in North America from April through June 2002. For further information, please visit www.reddiaper.com This retrospective, exhibition, symposium, catalogue and national tour have been made possible with the generous support of: Netherlands Culture Fund, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Ministry of Education, Culture & Science of the Netherlands, Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, Holland Film, and The French Cultural Services.

PHILIPS-RADIO, 1931. © Joris Ivens Archives / EFJI

PROGRAM ONE: AVANT-GARDE Like Ruttmann, Vertov, and Vigo, Ivens in his earliest works explored the relationship between film's recording capabilities and its possibilities for abstract, lyrical forms. DE BRUG (1928) The Bridge / Le pont (11 min, b/w, silent, 35 mm) Described as a "pure visual symphony" by the British avant-garde journal Close-Up, Ivens' earliest extant work powerfully juxtaposes a massive wrought-iron bridge in Rotterdam with Ivens' fluid, dynamic montage. REGEN (1929) Rain / La pluie (12 min, b/w, silent, 35 mm) Ivens' international reputation was created by this delicate, slyly humorous portrait of his native Amsterdam, a work that brilliantly straddles the divide between avant-garde and documentary filmmaking. PHILIPS RADIO (1931) Philips Radio / Symphonie industrielle (36 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) The first Dutch sound film, PHILIPS RADIO started as an assignment from the company to film its Eindhoven factory, which made radio sets. Ivens, though, soon turned it into a distinctly personal work, creating another striking visual symphony from the workers, the machinery and the factory space itself, while simultaneously offering a critique of labor conditions. The company was not pleased. PHILIPS RADIO also features some of Ivens' most striking experiments with sound, combining music and factory noises into an aural counterpoint for the images. MISÈRE AU BORINAGE (1934) Borinage (34 min, b/w, silent, 35 mm) Co-directed with Belgian filmmaker Henri Storck, the film chronicles the painful aftermath of the violently suppressed 1932 miners' strike in the Borinage region. Moving away from his earlier more abstract style, Ivens fashions a direct social critique so pointedly political that it ends with an image of Lenin. Interspersed in the documentary footage are several dramatic re-enactments of actual events linked to the strike. Banned for many years, BORINAGE is now seen as a milestone of political filmmaking. NIEUWE GRONDEN (1933) New Earth / Nouvelle terre (30 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) An eloquent, deeply moving look at the suffering of Dutch workers brought on by the international economic depression, NEW EARTH details how the closing of dikes - as a budgetary measure - in the Zuider Zee led to the loss of precious farmland, resulting in the loss of jobs, homes and even lives. With a stirring score by Hanns Eisler. Total Runtime: 123m Thursday March 21: 1 & 7:10 pm; Sunday March 24: 5:15 pm;

Joris Ivens, Ernest Hemingway and Werner Heilbrun, 1937. © John Fernhout, Joris Ivens Archives / EFJI

PROGRAM TWO: PROGRESS For Ivens, "engaged cinema" meant putting your art and your craft at the service of the progressive social movements of the era. PESN O GEROJACH (KOMSOMOL) (1932) Komsomol, or Song of Heroes / Komsomol, ou Le chant des héros (50 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) The building of a blast furnace in a remote region of the Ural Mountains is the premise for Ivens' celebration of the spirit of the Komsomoli, or young Soviet "pioneers," who dedicated their heart and soul to the construction of socialism. Again working with composer Hanns Eisler, Ivens creates a tribute to a kind of youthful idealism that believes that a new world can in fact be created. POWER AND THE LAND (1941) L'électrification de la terre (33 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) Commissioned by filmmaker Pare Lorenz, POWER AND THE LAND is Ivens' contribution to the American social documentary movement that grew out of efforts to defend and popularize the policies of Roosevelt's New Deal. Taking his crew to the American Midwest, Ivens chronicles the life of a farm family before and after the coming of electrical power to their town, developing further his technique of mixing documentary with dramatic sequences. Total Runtime: 83m Thursday March 21: 3:20 & 9:35 pm Friday March 22: 1 pm Sunday March 24: 7:45 pm thursday march 28: 1 pm PROGRAM THREE: WAR In Ivens' work, chronicling war is always more about capturing the human struggles going on off the battlefields. THE SPANISH EARTH (1937) Terre d'Espagne (52 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) Declared upon its release to be "one of the most significant and timely documents of our time," THE SPANISH EARTH was made with funds raised by a group of anti-Franco American intellectuals, including Archibald MacLeish, Lillian Hellman, and Ernest Hemingway. Shot in actual battlefield conditions, the film moves between the defense of the road to Madrid and the efforts of villagers to irrigate their fields to grow food for the soldiers. Hemingway provided the commentary, and Virgil Thomson the music. THE 400 MILLION (1939) Les 400 millions (53 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) Ivens worked with photographer Robert Capa on this stirring account of the Chinese fight for freedom against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Opening with a heart-rending montage of the bombing of coastal cities - some of the earliest images of aerial bombardments of civilian targets - the film then offers an eloquent journey through Chinese history, culture and landscapes, ending with a contemporary look at efforts to transform China. An impassioned plea for the West to care about and support the defense of China, THE 400 MILLION features amazing footage of Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek, and their families. Total Runtime: 105m wednesday march 20: 9 pm Thursday March 21: 5 pm Friday March 22: 2:45 pm Sunday March 24: 1 pm wednesday march 27: 5:10 pm

SONG OF RIVERS, 1954. © Joris Ivens Archives / EFJI

PROGRAM FOUR: INDEPENDENCE & PROPAGANDA Following World War II, Ivens continued to commit his cinema to progressive causes, despite the increased international tension at the beginning of the cold war. INDONESIA CALLING (1946) L'Indonésie appelle (22 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) Asked near the end of the war to serve as Film Commissioner of the Dutch East Indies in order to film their liberation from the Japanese, Ivens resigned his post upon realizing that the Dutch had no intention giving the islanders their independence. Instead, he shot clandestinely this passionate call for Indonesian independence, causing Ivens to lose his passport for several months. DAS LIED DER STRÖME (1954) Song of the Rivers / Le chant des fleuves (90 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) Easily one of the most ambitious documentary film projects ever assembled, this massive work was shot by different international crews in many different countries, then assembled by Ivens in Berlin. A celebration of international labor solidarity, the film features astonishingly lyrical passages that link the natural movement of rivers with the human labor found all along their banks. The film features a wonderful score by Dmitri Shostakovich, lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, and rousing performances by Paul Robeson and Ernst Busch. Total Runtime: 112m Friday March 22: 5 pm Saturday March 23: 7:15 Tuesday March 26: 9 pm Thursday March 28: 2:45 pm SYMPOSIUM: IVENS AND/IN FILM HISTORY As part of this celebration of the work of Joris Ivens, this symposium discussing the impact and legacy of his work will feature top film scholars such as Tom Gunning (University of Chicago), Annette Michelson (New York University), Charles Musser (Yale University), André Stufkens (Co-Director, Joris Ivens Foundation) and Thomas Waugh (Concordia University). We hope that Marceline Loridan, Ivens' widow and longtime collaborator, will also be in attendance. Panel 1: Saturday, March 23: 11am - 1pm Panel 2: Saturday, March 23: 2pm - 4pm Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater. Admission free; complimentary passes will be available at the Walter Reade Theater box office only.

THE SEINE MEETS PARIS, 1957. © Joris Ivens Archives / EFJI

PROGRAM FIVE: VISUAL POETRY Despite his passionate commitment to political causes, Ivens never lost interest in the abstract, more lyrical possibilities of the medium that had dominated his earliest works. LA SEINE A RENCONTRÉ PARIS (1957) The Seine Meets Paris (32 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) Considered to be one of Ivens’ most beautiful works, LA SEINE... is an unabashed valentine to the city that became Ivens’ second home. The film captures Parisian life along the banks of the river that has come to define the city: mothers with strollers, workers on their breaks, kids playing, fashion models, loners hiding in the docks. Poet/screenwriter Jacques Prévert wrote the beautiful commentary spoken by singer Serge Reggiani that accompanies the film. ...A VALPARAISO (1963) (37 min, b/w and color, sound, 35 mm) Invited to teach in Chile in 1962, Ivens and his students constructed a marvelous "city symphony" of Chile’s famous port city, long endowed with an exotic flavor owing to its well-established trade with Asia. It’s fascinating to see how Ivens updates a cinematic form invented in the 1920s to the film style and concerns of the 1960s. Chris Marker wrote the commentary. POUR LE MISTRAL (1965) The Mistral (30 min, b/w and color, sound, 35 mm and CinemaScope) In many ways a sketch for what would later become A TALE OF THE WIND, POUR LE MISTRAL takes as its subject the famous wind of southern France, seen as a giver of life, a creator of beauty but also a constant threat of destruction. Beginning the film in black and white, Ivens later switched to color, and then filmed the final section in CinemaScope. Total Runtime: 99m Friday March 22: 7:15 pm sunday march 24: 3:15 pm Tuesday March 26: 1 pm wednesday March 27: 3:10 pm thursday march 28: 9 pm PROGRAM SIX: VIETNAM LE 17ème PARALLELE (1968) The 17th Parallel (113 min, b/w, sound, 35 mm) Just as Joris Ivens had filmed other major historical events, such as the Spanish Civil War and the anti-colonial struggles, he of course was drawn to the Vietnam War, in so many ways one of the defining events of the second half of the 20th century. Working with his partner Marceline Loridan, Ivens shot this film over two months while they lived underground with Vietnamese villagers and soldiers on the line dividing North and South Vietnam. Sharing their homes, food and dangers, Ivens and Loridan establish an extraordinary intimacy with their hosts, resulting in a remarkable depiction of the texture of life carried on with a backdrop of relentless bombings by American B-52s. Yet what’s so impressive about The 17th Parallel is not how it captures the horrors of war but rather how it celebrates survival against all odds. Total Runtime: 113m Friday March 22: 9:15 pm wednesday March 27: 1 & 9 pm Thursday March 28: 6:45 pm PROGRAM SEVEN: FILMING THE INVISIBLE UNE HISTOIRE DE VENT (1988) A Tale of the Wind (80 min, color, sound, 35 mm) Co-directed with Marceline Loridan, Ivens’ final film is a haunting meditation on a lifetime of remarkable work. Having witnessed during his ninety years easily enough for ten lifetimes, Ivens turns his camera on perhaps his most elusive subject: himself. A lifelong asthmatic, Ivens begins his self-reflection with thoughts on the breath that sustains his and all life and that is manifest in the world as the wind. Like Ivens, the wind seems to know no boundaries, and naturally links peoples, cultures and continents. Ivens’ search brings him back to China, site of several of his greatest films, trying to find the dragon, the mythic representative of the wind, in order to learn its secret. Moving between documentary, fiction, mythology, philosophy and sheer whimsy, Loridan and Ivens here created one the most beautifully "free" films ever made, and a fitting tribute to one of cinema’s true originals. Total Runtime: 80m wednesday March 20: 6:30 pm Saturday March 23: 5 & 9:30 pm Sunday March 24: 9:30 pm wednesday March 27: 7:15 pm Thursday March 28: 5 pm about the series | film descriptions and times

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