Henri Storck

Henri Storck (Belgium, 1907-1999) was 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 bucolic, Virgilian Symphonie Paysanne (1944). Storck made numerous films on art, which played a major role in his life and work, his Belgian contemporaries  being Léon Spilliaert, James Ensor 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 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 founders of the Royal Film Archive (now CINEMATEK) in Brussels.

07.07.2024

Belgian film pioneer Henri Storck, born and raised in Ostend, made more than one documentary about his hometown. In Ostende, reine des plages, contemporaries James Ensor and Maurice Jaubert provide the music—a film about the “special happiness of being an Ostendian.”

04.12.2023

In deze surrealistische film van Henri Storck koopt een jongeman een glazen oog dat hij via de post verstuurt. Op een bijzondere manier komen erotiek en maatschappijkritiek erin samen.

KIJKWATCH

The beach and its sunbathers. A series of sketches, small moments that culminate in a wry, loving portrait of a Sunday at the beach.