Lied der Ströme

One of the most historically interesting correspondences in Leyda’s estate is the one with Joris Ivens. It also reveals the key role that Leyda played in the publishing of Ivens’ autobiography “The Camera and I”, whose 1969 first edition he oversaw at the East German publishing house Seven Seas. Joris Ivens had a long history with East Germany and DEFA, whose high and low points are traced out in Günter Jordan’s highly readable book “Unbekannter Ivens” (Unknown Ivens, 2018). One of these highpoints was SONG OF THE RIVERS, a hymn to the international worker’s movement that gives an account of work, struggle and solidarity on the Volga, Mississippi, Ganges, Nile, Amazon and Yangtze rivers in 6 verses. With Ivens as the director, original music by Shostakovich, a text by Brecht and the voices of Ernst Busch and Paul Robeson, SONG OF THE RIVERS was not just one of the most ambitious projects in the history of DEFA, but is also a unique document of internationalism. With guest Günter Jordan.

The film will be made available as a DCP by the Deutsche Kinemathek.