A Tale of the Wind
Director Joris Ivens / Marceline Loridan - Ivens
Countries France
Duration 74 min
Synopsis
Ivens’ final film, made with Marceline Loridan, is perhaps his most famous – one in which he turns his camera on his own life and changes in the world around him. Exploring ancient Chinese thinking and metaphysics, and structured by the search for the wind. It tells the story of an elderly director who wants to film the wind in the Mongolian desert and, while waiting on the edge of a dune, childhood reminiscences are mixed with fantasies of mythical Chinese characters, children and artists. After the long negotiations with the management of the museum that holds the Terracotta Army, unable to film in the way he wants, his assistants buy souvenir reproductions, and the scene is played out among these instead, with the addition of a troupe of dancers in foam Terracotta army costumes. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1988, where Ivens received the Golden Lion for his complete oeuvre.
Ivens’ final film, made with Marceline Loridan, is perhaps his most famous – one in which he turns his camera on his own life and changes in the world around him. Exploring ancient Chinese thinking and metaphysics, and structured by the search for the wind. It tells the story of an elderly director who wants to film the wind in the Mongolian desert and, while waiting on the edge of a dune, childhood reminiscences are mixed with fantasies of mythical Chinese characters, children and artists. After the long negotiations with the management of the museum that holds the Terracotta Army, unable to film in the way he wants, his assistants buy souvenir reproductions, and the scene is played out among these instead, with the addition of a troupe of dancers in foam Terracotta army costumes. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1988, where Ivens received the Golden Lion for his complete oeuvre.