Zuiderzee
( Zuiderzee )

Joris Ivens
1930 - 40 min - 35 mm - Noir & Blanc - Pays-Bas

In 1929 Joris Ivens got his first commission for which the CAPI film production unit was set up: it was the Dutch Building Workers Union who asked him to make a film on the occasion of their 25th anniversary. We Are Building is a film on the different types of work the members of the Union and the work of the Union itself. The film depicts the craftsmanship of e.g. architecture, pile drivers, caisson builders and the reclamation work from the Zuiderzee, as well as the administration of the Union and their meetings. Several episodes have been released independently (see filmography), of which Zuiderzee werken was the most elaborated: first to the 50 minutes Zuiderzee version, and later to New Earth. We Are Building is characterized by an unbalance between a formalist approach, like in the Pile Driving episode, and an informative, reportage-like film.