The Open Window

The Open Window

1952 · 18 min · ★ 6.0 · Documentary

One of the first European films commissioned by the countries that signes the Brussels treaty and filmed in the museums of Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Ghent and The Hague. The film shows, by means of 59 works of art, how painting discovered the landscape once it left the strictly religious context behind. Henri storck wrote, "We have tried to eliminate the artificiality of filming. We have tried to hide the camera in order to immerse the audience in the world of the painting and the landscape that it depicts. We want the viewer to discover the feeling of nature for himself, through the artists.... It is not our ambition to make a critical or informative work." This iconic journey from Bosch to Manet and Turner is accompanied by music by Georges Auric.

Directed by Henri Storck

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The Open Window

Peasant Symphony

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Henri Storck, ooggetuige

Henri Storck, ooggetuige · 1986

Henri Storck, ooggetuige

MovieDocumentary

Robbe de Hert’s Henri Storck, ooggetuige (1986) is a brilliant cinematic homage to the founding father of Belgian documentary cinema. Filmed around Storck’s 80th birthday, the film eschews standard biographical formulas. Instead, De Hert crafts an intelligent, vibrant collage that synthesizes rare archival footage with intimate anecdotes told by Storck himself.The documentary excels at tracing Storck’s evolution from an Ostend avant-garde poet to a fierce social activist. De Hert’s signature rebellious tone shines through in bold creative choices, such as overlaying John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" onto the silent, gritty footage of Misère au Borinage (1933). This creates a powerful bridge between 1930s labor struggles and modern social critique

Outside the Border of the Camera

Outside the Border of the Camera · 1932

Outside the Border of the Camera

A montage of images from newsreels; Storck's edit contains comical, poignant, even chilling juxtapositions.

Story of the Unknown Soldier

Story of the Unknown Soldier · 1932

Story of the Unknown Soldier

MovieDocumentary

Built from 1928 newsreels—the year 60 nations vowed to outlaw war—Storck’s razor-edged montage mocks the era’s self-congratulation by cross-cutting speeches and parades with portents of renewed violence: nationalism, colonial repression, police brutality. Slow-motion collapsing chimneys and the exhumation of an “unknown soldier” give the satire its sting.

Thursday We Shall Sing Like Sunday

Thursday We Shall Sing Like Sunday · 1967

Thursday We Shall Sing Like Sunday

MovieRomanceComedy

A bitter-sweet story of a young sales assistant and a truck driver trapped between their dreams and the economic depression.

Peasant Symphony

Peasant Symphony · 1944

Peasant Symphony

MovieDocumentary

From 1942 to 1944, Henri Storck composed his Symphonie paysanne, in which he describes the day to day life and rituals of the farmers on the rhythm of the seasons. The film is a poem to nature, a lyrical masterpiece on life and death, on animals and plants, on man and his labour.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles · 1976

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

A lonely young widow lives with her son following an immutable order: while the boy is in school, she cares for their apartment, does chores, and receives clients in the afternoon.

Vacances

Vacances · 1938

MovieDocumentary

This trailer for the pleasures of living between La Panne and Le Zoute testifies to the post-1936 euphoria that came with paid holidays, with sun and rest for everybody.

Pleasure Trips

Pleasure Trips · 1930

MovieDocumentary

The beach and the bathers, poses and gestures. A series of sketches and portraits, little touches that build up into a wry, affectionate portrait of a Sunday at the beach.

Zero for Conduct

Zero for Conduct · 1933

Zero for Conduct

MovieComedyDrama

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.

Dainah the Mixed

Dainah the Mixed · 1932

Dainah the Mixed

After three weeks and a long, hot voyage across the Pacific, an ocean liner finally arrives at its destination, Ecuador. That evening, the event is marked by a masked ball and a magic show.

Pilgrimage to Hell

Pilgrimage to Hell · 1946

Pilgrimage to Hell

Biopic about Father Damian and his life and work on the island of Molokai.

Borinage

Borinage · 1934

MovieDocumentary

Henri Storck and Joris Ivens’ landmark of social documentary, blending staged scenes with locals and on-the-spot reportage to depict the 1932 miners’ strike in Belgium’s Borinage—evictions, hunger, and police repression—transforming outrage into a call for solidarity.

Meeting of Artists

Meeting of Artists · 1945

Meeting of Artists

MovieDocumentary

A family film, a short summer film, made to record the joy of being together. But what a family! Léon Spilliaert, Paul Delvaux, Edgar Tytgat and his wife Maria, Luc and Paul Haessaerts. A garden, some seats and a camera that films the group of friends. They talk (given all the jollity, laughter and gestures seen it is a shame that it is a silent film). A period document only a few minutes long, a witness that puts names to faces, a reminder of a sunny afternoon. Emotion that loses itself in the moment.

For Your Beautiful Eyes

For Your Beautiful Eyes · 1929

For Your Beautiful Eyes

"Pour vos beaux yeux" (For Your Beautiful Eyes) is an eight-minute surrealist short by Henri Storck, conceived from an idea by Félix Labisse. In just 75 shots, it follows a young man who discovers a glass eye in a park, becomes consumed by its strange allure, and tries in vain to rid himself of it by mailing it away. Featuring Henry Van Vyve in the lead role, with cameo appearances by Labisse and his sister Ninette, the film stands as a playful yet unsettling exploration of obsession and absurdity—released only a year after "Un Chien Andalou."

Rubens

MovieDocumentary

This surreal abstract film falls into three sections, or movements, the first taking place on the ground, the second in the air and the third again on the ground. In the first movement various motifs or themes are introduced, which are again picked up and developed in the third movement. Six spheres, evolved in the first movement, become the sole subject matter–or “dancers”–of the second movement, which consists of a simple type of ballet using the floor-plan choreography or traditional ballet as a basis of interest.

Smuggler's Ball

Smuggler's Ball · 1952

Smuggler's Ball

MovieComedyDrama

Smuggler's Ball is the English-language title for this French-Belgian seriocomedy. The action takes place along the borders separating Belgium, Holland and France. It is here that the worldly Pierre (J. P. Kieran) carries on a profitable smuggling operation, all the while romancing Siska (Christian Lenier), the daughter of a local customs official. Various subplots and secondary characters weave in and out as the plotline guides the viewer through the WW II years. Towards the end, the story shifts gears when the Benelux Frontier Agreement eliminates all government regulations. The film's screenplay is by Charles Spaak, himself the descendant of a Belgian political family, and thus well-versed in bureaucracy and red tape.

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