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Joris Ivens, born in the Netherlands in 1898, started making films at twelve years old. He studied photography in Berlin and in 1927 founded FILM LIGA. His films attracted international attention, especially those dealing with controversial social issues. Ivens would radically recut "commerical newsreels in order to alter their class orientation, driving home a political message missing from the footage in its original form." 1 In March of 1936, Ivens came to the United States to show his films--radical works combining form and content, reenactment and reportage, romanticism and realism. During his stay he was in touch with Nykino members and left his influence on their work. He officially joined Frontier Films, although beyond his influence, the extent of his membership did not extend further. His work on The Spanish Earth and The 400 Million secured his position as a master radical film maker. He toured Spain, China, Ethiopia, and Germany with his parter and editor Helen Von Dongen, gathering footage for his international socialist films. In 1955 Ivens was awarded the World Peace Prize, the international Lenin Prize for science and culture in 1967, and was knighted in the Order of the Dutch Lion in 1998, in addition to numerous other awards. 1Campbell, Russell. Cinema Strikes Back: Radical Filmmaking in The United States 1930-1942. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1978. (23). 
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