Joris Ivens (November 18, 1898–June 28, 1989) 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 communists dictators like Joseph Stalin. is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Georgian: , Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili; Russian: , Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) (December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (alternatively transliterated Josef Stalin), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unions Central Committee from...

Probably the best known of his early films is his 10-minute short Rain (Regen). 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 (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'. A steel production facility in Magnitogorsk in the 1930s Magnitogorsk Magnitogorsk (Russian: ) is a mining and industrial city by the Ural River in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, with one of the largest iron and steel works in the country. ...

In 1933 he made Misère au Borinage (Borinage) with Henri Storck, 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.[1] Henri Storck (1907, Ostend – September 17, 1999) was a Belgian author, film-maker and documentarist. ... The National Film Board of Canada (usually National Film Board or NFB) is a Canadian public filmmaking organization established to produce and distribute films that inform Canadians and promote Canada around the world. ...

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). With the rise of McCarthyism, Ivens (long a vocal communist) 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 studio's there. His position concerning Indonesia and his taking sides for the Eastern Block 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: 17e parallèle: La guerre du peuple (17th Parallel: Vietnam in War) and participated in the collective work Loin du Vietnam (Far from Vietnam). Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers individual and other societal interests subordinate to the needs of the state, and seeks to forge a type of national unity, usually based on, but not limited to, ethnic, cultural, or racial attributes. ... The Why We Fight Series depicts the Nazi propaganda machine. ... Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the dangers of a Communist takeover. ... For the computer game, see Imperialism (computer game). ...

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; he 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). is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Joris Ivens was awarded Lenin Peace Prize for the year 1967. The International Stalin Prize or the International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples (renamed Russian: , the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples as a result of destalinization) was the Soviet Unions equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize. ...

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

Virgilio Tosi is an Italian documentary film maker and historian of early film Virgilio Tosi, 2006 // Virgilio Tosi was born in Milan, Italy, in 1925. ...

External links

• European Foundation Joris Ivens
• website of Ivens-biographer Hans Schoots
  Please click English. A Dutch version can be found via Film.
• De Brug, Regen and The Spanish Earth,The 400 Million at Google Video
• Joris Ivens at the Internet Movie Database