Borinage

  • Joris Ivens, Henri Storck
  • Belgium
  • 1933
  • 34'
  • Misère au Borinage

A social documentary classic using raw anti-aesthetics to reveal the situation in Borinage at the time of the great miners’ strike of 1932 provoked by a growing number of workplace accidents and multiple salary cuts. The strike has been subdued and many workers laid off, losing their homes, their families starving. Other workers offer a helping hand in solidarity. The film depicts the great social contradictions between capital and workforce, and the Church and the people in the critical period. Some scenes were shot in secret due to police repression.

Subtitles: HR

Joris Ivens, Henri Storck

Joris Ivens (1898 – 1989) is an important figure of activist documentary-making whose films promote social levelling and workers’ unity. Henri Storck (1907 – 1999) is a Belgian director and documentary-maker, as well as one of the founders of the Royal Belgian Film Archive.

Borinage

Director
Joris Ivens, Henri Storck
Screenplay
Joris Ivens, Henri Storck
DOP
Joris Ivens, François Rents, Henri Storck
Editing
John Fernhout, Joris Ivens, Henri Storck
Production
Club de l'Écran, EPI
Festivals & Awards
IDFA 1994, 1999, 2008