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We Are Building
Wij bouwen



1930 / The Netherlands / silent / B&W / 110 min / 35mm

Director, Editor: Joris Ivens
Script: Joris Ivens, E. Sinoo
Camera: Joris Ivens, Willem Bon, Jan Hin, John Fernhout, Mark Kolthoff, Eli Lotar
Production company: CAPI Amsterdam
Commissioned by: Algemeene Nederlandsche Bouwarbeidersbond


In 1929 Ivens and his newly established CAPI film production unit received their first commission. The General Netherlands Construc-tion Workers' Union asked Ivens to make a film on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. We Are Building depicts the wide range of work in which members of the union are engaged as well as the work of the union itself. The film shows the craftsmanship of, for instance, architects, pile drivers, caisson builders, and reclamation work on the Zuiderzee. Zuiderzee (1930) was a fully articulated reworking of one of these sections. A 50-minute version of Zuiderzee (1930) would later form the basis of New Earth (1934). We Are Building is characterized by a tension between a formalism, as in the "Pile Driving" episode, and reportage-like sequences elsewhere in the film.

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COPYRIGHT:Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee