Joris Ivens is regarded worldwide as one of the pioneers of the documentary film art with avant-garde films such as The Bridge (1928), Rain (1929), Borinage (1934) and
The Spanish Earth (1937). Twenty of Ivens’ classic films, ranging from his youthful film experiment The Flaming Arrow (1912) to his cinematic testament A Tale of the Wind (1988) will be included in the DVD-box, among them films that have been awarded with either the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival or the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
All films have been extensively researched by the Ivens Foundation in numerous collections all over the world, and great care has been taken to find or restore every film to its (most) authentic state. The audio-visual company Edit’B, which is based in the city of Nijmegen, Ivens’ place of birth, has worked intensively for the last two years on the digital restoration of the material, totalling more than a million film frames. The DVD-box will be accompanied by a book, containing extensive information on all the films.
The release of this film collection will take place on the 18th of November in LUX Nijmegen and on the 21st of November at the Film Museum in Amsterdam, and
Marceline Loridan-Ivens (Ivens’ wife), German director Edgar Reitz (director of the acclaimed Heimat-series) and American film scholar Tom Gunning will be among the many guests. During the coming edition of IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) the Film Museum will show a daily programme of Ivens films, as well as housing an exhibition on his life and work.
André Stufkens, Director of the Ivens Foundation, states: ”The films made by Ivens are shown worldwide at numerous film festivals, but I’m pleased that with the release of this box-set the films will be available to everybody.”
The DVD-collection will be released in three languages: Dutch, English and French.
In Paris the Cinémathèque Française, following the Dutch programme, will organize a large-scale Ivens-retrospective in the Spring of 2009, when the DVD-box will be released in France by ARTE. In the US the MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, in New York will organize a programme of Ivens films on the occasion of the collection’s release.
Apart from the films, a lot of unique bonus material has been included in the box-set, among them a previously unreleased film interview (60 min.) with Joris Ivens from 1983, in which he talks about his life, and a lively film interview with Ivens by French director Jean Rouch. Of many films special versions have been included: the film Rain will be presented with three different soundtracks, and The Spanish Earth will feature the commentary tracks spoken by both Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles. A special featurette will show what the digital restoration of the Ivens films entailed.
To present this DVD-box the European Foundation Joris Ivens cooperates with CAPI Films in Paris and the Film Museum in Amsterdam.
In the Netherlands the box-set will be released by JUST Entertainment, and in France and the US by ARTE and Facets respectively.
More information: European Foundation Joris Ivens / André Stufkens / Tel. 024-3888774 /
www.ivens.nl
