The Conscience of Cinema Framing Film
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FRAMING THOMAS WAUGH FILM THE CONSCIENCE THOMAS WAUGH OF CINEMA PRESERVING AND The Works of Joris Ivens EXHIBITING MEDIA ART 1926-1989 This important and first-of-its-kind collection addresses the Julia Noordegraaf is THE CONSCIENCE OF CINEMA emerging challenges in the field of media art preservation and Professor of Heritage and exhibition, providing an outline for the training of professionals in Digital Culture at the Univer- this field. Since the emergence of time-based media such as film, sity of Amsterdam. video and digital technology, artists have used them to experiment Cosetta G. Saba is Associate with their potential. The resulting artworks, with their basis in Professor of Film Analysis rapidly developing technologies that cross over into other domains and Audiovisual Practices in such as broadcasting and social media, have challenged the tradi- Media Art at the University tional infrastructures for the collection, preservation and exhibition of Udine. of art. Addressing these challenges, the authors provide a historical Barbara Le Maître is and theoretical survey of the field, and introduce students to the Associate Professor of challenges and difculties of preserving and exhibiting media art Theory and Aesthetics of through a series of first-hand case studies. Situated at the threshold Static and Time-based Images at the Université Sorbonne between archival practices and film and media theory, it also makes nouvelle – Paris 3. a strong contribution to the growing literature on archive theory Vinzenz Hediger is and archival practices. Professor of Film Studies at the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 978 90 8964 291 2 AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESS WWW.AUP.NL FRAMING FILM EYE FILM INSTITUTE NETHERLANDS THE CONSCIENCE OF CINEMA FRAMING FILM FRAMING FILM is a book series dedicated to theoretical and analytical studies in restoration, collection, archival, and exhibition practices in line with the existing archive of EYE Filmmuseum. With this series, Amsterdam University Press and EYE aim to support the academic research community, as well as practitioners in archive and restoration. SERIES EDITORS Giovanna Fossati, EYE Filmmuseum & University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Leo van Hee, EYE Filmmuseum Frank Kessler, Utrecht University, the Netherlands Patricia Pisters, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Dan Streible, New York University, United States Nanna Verhoeff, Utrecht University, the Netherlands EDITORIAL BOARD Richard Abel, University of Michigan, United States Jane Gaines, Columbia University, United States Tom Gunning, University of Chicago, United States Vinzenz Hediger, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany Martin Koerber, Deutsche Kinemathek, Germany Ann-Sophie Lehmann, University of Groningen, the Netherlands Charles Musser, Yale University, United States Julia Noordegraaf, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands William Uricchio, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States Linda Williams, University of California at Berkeley, United States THOMAS WAUGH THE CONSCIENCE OF CINEMA The Films of Joris Ivens 1912-1989 AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESS Cover illustration: Frame enlargement, Joris Ivens, Zuiderzee (1930-33)/Nieuwe Gronden (1933). Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging. © CAPI Films, Paris, and Marceline Loridan-Ivens. Cover design and lay-out: Magenta Ontwerpers, Bussum Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. isbn 978 90 8964 753 5 e-isbn 978 90 4852 525 6 doi 10.5117/9789089647535 nur 670 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) Thomas Waugh / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2016 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise). Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. TABLE OF CONTENTS Notes to the Reader 7 | 5 Acknowledgments 9 List of Illustrations 13 Foreword by André Stufkens 19 Foreword by Bill Nichols 21 Introduction 25 PART I 1 Ivens and the Silent Film Avant-Garde 1926-1929 51 2 The Radicalisation of the Poet 1929-1936 103 3 Anti-Fascist Solidarity Documentary 195 4 Projects of the Forties 257 PART II 5 Torn Curtain: Ivens the Cold Warrior 1946-1956 351 6 The ‘Poet’ Reborn? 1956-1965 401 7 Southeast Asia 1966-1970: Reinventing the Solidarity Film 503 8 China 1971-1989 565 Conclusion: Qui s’arrête se trompe 653 Notes 657 Appendix: Films on Ivens 695 Filmography 701 Reference List 711 Index 739 6 | THE CONSCIENCE OF CINEMA NOTES TO THE READER Original-language titles of films are used in the filmography and reference list | 7 as well as upon first use in each chapter, followed by standard English trans- lation (in italics) or the author’s English translation in the event that no offi- cial English translation exists, in turn followed by the director’s name, date of production, country of origin, and running time in minutes, where this in not evident in the immediate context. (The only exception is Chinese-language titles.) Thereafter in the each chapter, shortened versions of original-language titles, most familiar variants or standard English titles are deployed, which- ever is most appropriate according to principles of clarity and convenience (for example The Spanish Earth is shortened to Spanish Earth, Power and the Land is shortened to Power and Une histoire de vent to Histoire). To minimise repetition, film citations in the text do not include data that are evident in the immediate context of the reference. All translations from European languages are by the author unless other- wise noted. Citations follow the Oxford version of the Chicago date-author system, modified to minimise repetition within the body of the text. DVD frame captures are used wherever possible to concretise points made in my filmic analysis. In addition the regular use of film posters and produc- tion stills points to the artistic and social context of certain films and periods. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project, as mammoth as Joris Ivens deserves, has taken more than for- | 9 ty years, and like all scholarly undertakings and labours of love is a collec- tive undertaking. My ‘thank you’s’ embrace many people over those decades whom I have forgotten or are too numerous to mention. Please know that it would not have been possible without you. I express my heartfelt gratitude to: The following co-workers of Ivens for their interviews and correspondence since the 1970s: Tom Daly, Catherine Duncan, Helen van Dongen Durant, Guy Glover, Robert Grelier, Jay Leyda, Pare Lorentz, Marceline Loridan-Ivens, Lu Songhe, Marion Michelle, Arthur Ornitz, Vladimir Pozner, Jean-Pierre Ser- gent, Henri Storck, and Willard Van Dyke. My original advisers, readers, and mentors at Columbia University and elsewhere: my adviser Leo Braudy; my original evaluators, Andrew Sarris, Rob- ert Maguire, and J.W. Smit; other early readers, the now departed Erik Bar- nouw, Peter Harcourt, and especially Jay Leyda. My students in Joris Ivens seminars in 2006 and in 2011 for their generos- ity, curiosity, and commitment. Literally dozens of research assistants and other students and former stu- dents, graduate and undergraduate, over the years, including (in alphabetical order) Laurence Houle Collin, Ryan Conrad, Jon Davies, Enrique Fibla, Philipp Dominik Keidl, Fulvia Massimi, Braden Scott, Evangelos Tziallas, Robert Vitu- lano, Marcin Wisniewski, and Yuriy Zikratyy. Other friends, colleagues and researchers for miscellaneous assistance and wisdom: the generous and knowledgeable scholars Glyn Davis and Bert Hogenkamp, filmmakers Marielle Nitoslawska, John Hughes, René Seegers, and Ephraim Smith, cinephile activists Randy Rowland and Kay Power, and programmers supreme Ezra Winton and Svetla Turnin. For help with translation and transliteration Jenny Chang, Louis Godbout, Ross Higgins, Philipp Dominik Keidl, Mao Lei, Giampaolo Marzi, [Rachel] Qiong Yu, Nick Rice, Lothar Schmidt, and Sun Hongyun. Members of the Concordia University community, whose students, faculty, and staff have sustained and encouraged my work for almost forty years, individ- uals too numerous to mention, without whose abiding support I would not have written a word or seen a film. I acknowledge in particular the contributions to this book, both financial and infrastructural, by the Faculty of Fine Arts, Instruc- tional and Informational Services, the Office of the Vice President Research, the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, and the Moving Images Research Centre. For generous funding over many years the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and at the start the Canada Council for the Arts. Members and staff of Amsterdam University Press for their generous pro- fessionalism, especially Jeroen Sondervan, Senior Commissioning Editor 10 | Film & Media for his unhesitating and resourceful shepherding of this project. Original publishers or otherwise facilitators of early versions of parts of this book, in roughly chronological order, Gary Crowdus and Cinéaste; Scare- crow Press; Kathleen Vernon and Cornell University Press; Carole Zucker and Scarecrow Press; Peter Steven and Between the Lines Press; Gene Walz and the Film Studies Association