Henri Storck

Henri Storck (1907-1999) was a Belgian filmmaker and a pioneer in documentary filmmaking. He is best known for his documentaries Misère au Borinage (1933), a pamphlet against capitalism made with Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens, and his Virgilian eclogue in Symphonie Paysanne (1944). Storck made numerous films on art, which played a major role in his life and work, his contemporaries being Belgian artists such as Léon Spilliaert, James Ensor, Paul Delvaux and Constant Permeke. His films on art include Le monde de Paul Delvaux (1946), Rubens (1948), and Herman Teirlinck (1953). The connection to his birthplace is reflected in films such as Images d’Ostende (1928), a beautiful ode to the beauties of Storck’s hometown and its beach. In 1964, he formed the International Association of Documentary Filmmakers, together with Gian Vittorio Baldi and John Grierson. He was one of the principal founders of the Royal Film Archive (now CINEMATEK) in Brussels.

An impressionistic composition filmed in Ostend. The viewer’s gaze is guided by sensual impressions in which the light, compositions, textures and rhythms of the water, the sand and the waves become filmic elements themselves.

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