3 Movies Directed by Joris Ivens

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This documentary tells of the struggles during the Spanish Civil War. It deals with the war at different levels: from the political level, at the ground military level focusing on battles in Madrid and the road from Madrid to Valencia, and at the support level. With the latter, a key project was building an irrigation system for an agricultural field near Fuentedueèa so that food could be grown to feed the soldiers.

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Quotidian scenes of Paris along the quays beside the River Seine. Fishing, snoozing, cutting hair, washing clothes. Lovers embrace as nuns gaze. Students sketch, models pose. A diver recovers a boy's lost bicycle. C'est la vie. It's "a river like any other". Sprightly accordion music rounds out the atmosphere.

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This film travels through fantasy and reality as Ivens goes to China to capture the Wind. The film reflects the film maker's journey - from his first film on the wind (Pour Le Mistral)to this - Iven's last film. The documentary flows between fantasy and reality moving between the images the film maker has made, seen or dreamt about. Combining documentary with Chinese mythology and opera and even Georges Mèliès' "A trip to the Moon", Ivens melds culture, landscape and mindscape with breathtaking effect. The 90 year old director travels as a boy from his windmill home in erstwhile Holland in a glider made from clothes from a clothesline. We see his journey through life and into the mysticism of the orient in his old age. His memories take us into a humorous, sometimes pensive, magical journey while the film's crew struggles to capture the wind and his breath.