Borinage
Director Joris Ivens
Countries Belgium
Duration 34 min
Synopsis
The film reports on the social consequences of the revolutionary miners strike in Borinage, which had taken place in 1932. "We stopped thinking about the cinema and how to frame shots and instead became dominated by the irrepressible need to produce images as stark, as bare, and sincere as possible to fit the cruel facts reality had thrown at us. Any attempt at aestheticism seemed indecent. Our camera had to carry a cry of revolt. The miners understood that our enterprise was an honest one; they trusted us and helped us unreservedly, allowing us to go into their homes and film their atrocious poverty. "- said Stork in an interview. The film was shot during September and Ivens could not use arc-lamps- the workers were too poor to pay their electricity bills. So they used oil lamps instead. The film was refused general release and could only be shown in film clubs, making Ivens the most censored filmmaker in the world.
The film reports on the social consequences of the revolutionary miners strike in Borinage, which had taken place in 1932. "We stopped thinking about the cinema and how to frame shots and instead became dominated by the irrepressible need to produce images as stark, as bare, and sincere as possible to fit the cruel facts reality had thrown at us. Any attempt at aestheticism seemed indecent. Our camera had to carry a cry of revolt. The miners understood that our enterprise was an honest one; they trusted us and helped us unreservedly, allowing us to go into their homes and film their atrocious poverty. "- said Stork in an interview. The film was shot during September and Ivens could not use arc-lamps- the workers were too poor to pay their electricity bills. So they used oil lamps instead. The film was refused general release and could only be shown in film clubs, making Ivens the most censored filmmaker in the world.