China is holding a three-day seminar, starting Tuesday, in commemoration of the 110th birth anniversary of Dutch documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens who has long been regarded as an old friend of the country.

More than 50 Chinese and overseas scholars, collaborators and friends of Ivens are expected to attend the seminar, entitled 50 Years of Joris Ivens and China.

Ivens' relationship with China started in 1938 when he came to the country to shoot a film. During that time he formed a relationship with Zhou Enlai, the first premier when the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.

In the following decades, Ivens made four films about China: The 400 Million (1938), Before Spring (1958), How Yukong Moved the Mountains (1976), and A Tale of the Wind (1988). His last documentary won the Golden Lion Award at Venice Film Festival. It was shot in China's northwestern Gobi desert, and was Ivens' illustration and metaphor for changes in Chinese society and culture.

Ivens taught at the Beijing Film Academy in 1957 and died in 1989.

Machtelt Schelling, head of culture and education of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Beijing, praised Ivens' 50-year-friendship with China.

"As a great artist, Ivens left us with a lot of valuable thoughts and resources which are used even today," said Schelling.

Han Sanping, board chairman of the China Film Group, emphasized Ivens' impact on the fifth generation of Chinese film directors, saying they should follow Ivens' steps towards producing movies of international influence.

Four of Ivens' films as well as two lectures by Canadian and American scholars will be part of the seminar.

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2008)