Ivens’ documentaries are not just the work of an inspired film maker who in the course of his career was awarded with both the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, but they also have a huge historical relevance, both in a political and in a technical sense. Technically, because as much as Ivens was aiming for the same result as today's observational documentarist, due to economic and technical restraints his films were often scripted, with events reconstructed or acted out, in order to tell a story or to deliver a political message in a better way. Politically Ivens was born in the same year as Bertolt Brecht and Hans Eisler. These three men display a number of striking parallels in their development. All three began their careers in the front line of the avant-garde movement. Their concerns were initially formal-artistic. Not long after, they embraced the communist doctrine and with great conviction produced work in accordance with the party ideology.
Subtitles are available in English and Dutch. Menu options are available in English and Dutch. Total playtime: 890 minutes.
DVD-1 1912-1933
De Wigwam /The Tipi, 1912
Bonus
De Wigwam / The Tipi, 1912 (version 1931)
Etudes des mouvements a Paris, 1927
De Brug / The Bridge, 1928
Regen / Rain (silent), 1929 (with Mannus Franken)
Regen / Rain (sound, Lichtveld), 1929/1932 (with Mannus Franken)
Bonus
Regen / Rain (sound, Eisler), 1929/1941 (with Mannus Franken)
Bonus
Regen / Rain (sound, Lichtveld, version Micha Hamel), 2002 (with M. Franken)
Philips Radio, 1931
Komsomol, 1933
Nieuwe Gronden / New Earth, 1933
Bonus
Nieuwe Gronden / New Earth, 1933 (live-version ASKO Ensemble HK Grüber)
DVD-2 1934-1940
Borinage, 1934 (with Henri Storck)
The Spanish Earth (version Ernest Hemingway), 1937
Bonus
The Spanish Earth (version Orson Welles), 1937
The 400 Million, 1939
Power And The Land, 1940
DVD-3 1946-1966
Indonesia Calling, 1946
La Seine a rencontré Paris, 1957
…à Valparaiso, 1963
Pour Le Mistral, 1965
Rotterdam Europoort, 1966
Rotterdam Europoort, 1966 (French version Chris Marker, Yves Montand)
DVD-4 1968-1976
Le 17ieme Parallèle, 1969
Histoire d’un Ballon:Le Lycée nr. 31 à Pékin (de Yukong deplaça les montagnes), 1976 (with Marceline Loridan-Ivens)
La Pharmacie nr. 3: Shanghai (de Yukong deplaça les montagnes), 1976
DVD-5 1980-1988
Une Histoire de Vent, 1988 (with Marceline Loridan-Ivens)
Bonus
Ciné-Mafia (rencontre 1) – Jean Rouch, 1980
Bonus
Témoins, interview Joris Ivens, 1983 (with Robert Destanques)
Bonus
Restauration Joris Ivens digital, 2008
This is a region 0 release that will play on all DVD-players worldwide.