This year is the 50th anniversary of the debut of the film “The 17th parallel, the People’s War” which went public in Paris in 1968. The film was made by the Dutch worldwide famous cineaste Joris Ivens. The impact of this film was great. It inspired the solidarity movements not only in the Netherlands, but also elsewhere in the world towards the Vietnamese people for their struggle in the 1960s. Next to this film, Joris Ivens also made three other films about the war in Vietnam: Le Ciel, la Terre (the Threatening Sky); Far from Vietnam and The Meeting with President Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnam War/the American War ended more than 40 years ago and was one of the most spoken war in the 20th century. This historic event cannot be ignored without mentioning the great contribution of this famous Dutch filmmaker.
The Vietnam Film Institute in cooperation with the European Foundation Joris Ivens from the Netherlands will organize a Symposium entitled: JORIS IVENS AND THE VIETNAM WAR – LOOKING BACK IN HISTORY FOR A BETTER FUTURE”, on November 22, 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The symposium will last three days, including one day visit to the former place/tunnel in Vinh Linh, Quang Tri Province where Joris Ivens and his wife Marceline Loridan lived and worked for two months under the ground to film “The 17th Paralelle, the People’s War”. The program is enclosed.