Joris Ivens

Biography

The filmmaker Joris Ivens was the son of C.A.P. Ivens, owner of the CAPI photography shop in Nijmegen. With the help of his father’s employees, in the 1910s the young Joris Ivens made the short film De wigwam, with roles for his parents, brothers, and sisters. Ivens studied economics and photography. From the end of the 1920s, he was one of the vital figures in the world of Dutch avant-garde film. As a technical consultant, he was involved with the Filmliga, and made important avant-garde films like De brug and Regen. He also founded the film company Studio Joris Ivens, where young, enthusiastic filmmakers could find a home. The Studio was the cradle of experimental film in the early 1930s. Ivens developed into a political filmmaker, and with films like Borinage, Spanish Earth, and Indonesia Calling!, he grew into a leading documentary filmmaker.

Directed

1. Rain (1929) — Director
2. Valparaiso (1964) — Director
3. A Tale of the Wind (1989) — Director
4. Far from Vietnam (1967) — Director
5. The Bridge (1928) — Director
6. The Spanish Earth (1937) — Director
7. Philips-Radio (1931) — Director
8. New Earth (1933) — Director
9. Borinage (1934) — Director
10. The Flaming Arrow (1912) — Director
11. Movement Studies in Paris (1928) — Director
12. Song of Heroes (1932) — Director
13. Bold Adventure (1956) — Director
14. The Mistral (1966) — Director
15. The Seine Meets Paris (1957) — Director
16. Indonesia Calling (1946) — Director
17. Power and the Land (1940) — Director
18. The 400 Million (1939) — Director
19. The 17th Parallel (1968) — Director
20. Rotterdam-Europoort (1966) — Director
21. How Yukong Moved the Mountains (1976) — Director
22. Song of the Rivers (1954) — Director
23. The Wind Rose (1957) — Director
24. The Small Tent (1963) — Director
25. Zuiderzeewerken (1930) — Director
26. The Kazakhs (1977) — Director
27. Peace Will Win (1951) — Director
28. The Threatening Sky (1966) — Director
29. Our Russian Front (1942) — Director
30. The First Years (1950) — Director
31. The Football Incident (1976) — Director
32. The Pharmacy: Shanghai (1976) — Director
33. The People and Their Guns (1970) — Director
34. Demain à Nanguila (1960) — Director
35. The Uyghurs (1977) — Director
36. Action Stations (1943) — Director
37. Corvette Port Arthur (1943) — Director
38. Letters from China (1958) — Director
39. Pueblo en armas (1961) — Director
40. Cuba, a People Armed (1961) — Director

Also appeared in

1. A Tale of the Wind (1989) — Self
2. The Flaming Arrow (1912) — Flaming Arrow
3. New Earth (1933)
4. Grierson (1973) — Self
5. Havre (1986) — le docteur Digitalis
6. The Threatening Sky (1966) — Interviewer
7. Midi Première (1975) — Self
8. The People and Their Guns (1970)
9. Aah... Tamara (1965)
10. World Without a Game (1966) — Self
11. Een oude vriend van het Chinese volk (2008)
12. Memória Cubana (2010) — Self (archive footage)
13. Ciné-mafia (1980)
14. Les années Juliet - Chronique d’un Filmeur — Self
15. Skoop (1964) — Self