A Tale of the Wind(Forum 50)

Having spent his seven-decade career chronicling wars and revolutions, Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens marked his 90th birthday with a project which seemed to be even more challenging than everything he’s done: he aimed to document the wind, the whispering “keeper of secrets” for humanity. A decade onwards from How Yukong Moved the Mountains, his 12-part, 12-hour 1970s documentary about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Ivens returns to China to record the sound of wind in arid deserts, on barren plains and spiky mountain tops. Travelling through landscapes both imaginary (where sun-shooting archer Hou Yi and the Monkey King brush shoulders with a chorus of patriotic Pioneers) and real (he walks down bicycle-filled urban roads, visits cave dwellings and rows with bureaucrats about shooting permits), Ivens’ final film is a mesmerizing reflection on China and cinema.