Among the most daring filmmakers in the
16mm academic film genre was Encyclopedia Britannica Films’ Bert Van Bork, whose
stunning camera shots are augmented by his painterly eye for framing, and his
superior editing skills. Van
Bork’s story is a fascinating one, not only in terms of his own personal
history, but of his multi-dimensional relationship to many different art forms
as well.
Born in 1928 in Augustusburg, Germany, his art studies included stints in the
Academies of Fine Arts in Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden. Following the war,
he began producing stark woodcuts of intense and terrifying beauty, often made
from the pine remains of destroyed buildings and old furniture, depicting a
Berlin struggling with an uncertain future. In 1954, he moved to Chicago by way
of New York, working in oil on canvas as well as drypoint, displaying an
influence of German expressionism in his portrayals of the landscapes of the
American Southwest, and cityscapes of Chicago. By this time, Van Bork had become
an accomplished stills photographer as well, and received the National Award for
Outstanding Photography in Germany in 1954.
In 1957, Van Bork brought a film he had made, The Seventeen Year
Locust to Warren Everote at EB Films, who then hired him to
produce mainly art and science films (the film was renamed Insect Life Cycle: the Periodical Cicada
for distribution). Soon, he became famous for both his
stunning geological studies and infamous for his daring in obtaining footage
under extremely arduous conditions, whether volcanic, underground, or aerial. He
has made over 200 films, his list of film awards is extensive, and yet there is
no extant complete filmography of Van Bork. Each of the Van Bork films listed in
the cine16 filmography are exceptional, and are among the best short films ever
made.
Van Bork's Eyewitness, nominated for an Academy
Award in 1999, "examines a unique genre of art: sketches and
paintings done secretly by men and women who lived and died inside the walls of
the Nazi death camps. This body of work, much of it unearthed for the first time
from the death camp's archives, provides chilling testimony to Auschwitz's daily
routine of torture and execution. Eyewitnesss
documents the life and work of three artists - Jan Komski, Dina Gottliebova and
Felix Nussbaum - who more than fifty years ago witnessed and painted the
horror."
Van Bork's exhibitions of two-dimensional art continue to appear in the
Chicago area, and he has released a book of his art in conjunction with an
exhibition in Germany, Bert Van Bork: Kunstlerporträts
(Passage-Verlag, ISBN 3-932900-34-0).
Filmography
We are attempting to complete Van Bork's filmography. Of the 200 or
so films Van Bork remembers making, approximately 86 are listed below; all were produced by
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films.
Insect Life Cycle: the Periodical Cicada (1957)
Protozoa (One-Celled Animals) (1957)
Art in the Western World (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) (1958)
Battle of Yorktown (1958)
Jamestown: First English Settlement in America (1958)
Airplanes: How They Fly (1959)
Cave Community (1960) Cumberland Caves, McMinnville, TN.
What is a Reptile (1961)
Bacteria (1962)
Single-Celled Animals: Protozoa (1962)
Temperate Deciduous Forest (1962)
What is an Amphibian? (1962)
What is a Mammal? (1962)
Chicago: Midland Metropolis (1963)
Echinoderms: Sea Stars and Their Relatives (1963) Sea cucumbers, sand
dollars, sea urchins, etc.
Life Between Tides (1963)
Life Story of the Oyster (1963)
Life Story of the Paramecium (1963)
Life Story of the Sea Star (1963)
Marine Biologist (1963)
Parasitism (Parasitic Flatworm) (1963)
Plankton and the Open Sea (1963)
Lines in Relief: Woodcut and Block Printing (1964)
Living Things Are Everywhere (1964)
Looking at Amphibians (1964)
River Valley (1964)
Desert Community: Plant and Animal Relationships (1965)
Life Story of a Water Flea (Daphnia) (1965)
Living Things in a Drop of Water (1965)
Lumberman (1965) Lumberjack culture
Plankton: Pastures of the Ocean (1965)
Life in a Vacant Lot (1966)
Artist at Work, The: Jacques Lipchitz, Master Sculptor
(1968). Van Bork also wrote a book by the same name.
Origin of Life: Chemical Evolution (1969)
Radioisotopes: Tools of Discovery (1969)
Siqueiros "El Maestro" (1969) Murals of David
Siqueiros at Poliforum, Mexico City
Theories on the Origin of Life (1969)
Fire Mountain (1970)
Heartbeat of a Volcano (1970). Van Bork burned through two
pairs of shoes while traversing Kilauea’s lava, and at one point, while
filming, was prevented from falling into an abyss by virtue of editor Ulf
Backstrom holding him by the belt.
Succession on Lava (1970)
Aging of Lakes (1971)
A Boy Creates (1971) A sculpture film, made on the late, lamented
muflats at Emeryville, California.
Earthquakes: Lesson of a Disaster (1971)
Fog (1971)
Legend of the Magic Knives (1971) A Kwakiutl legend is
told through the masks of Tony Hunt, sculptor.
Ecology of a Hot Spring: Life at High Temperatures (1972)
Geyser Valley (1972) Geothermal fun.
Indian Artists of the Southwest (1972)
Yorktown (1972)
Fire in the Sea (1973)
Mayfly: Ecology of an Aquatic Insect (1973)
Volcanoes:
Exploring the Restless Earth (1973) A riveting journey
through magmatic hell. Paricutin, Vesuvius, Surtsey. Spectacular.
Energy for the Future (1974)
Monuments to Erosion (1974)
San Andreas Fault (1974) Tremendous aerial shots, from the
American Geological Institute series
Mesa Verde: Mystery of the Silent Cities (1975, narrated by
Jack Palance), featuring spectacular aerial photography, obtained only after the
first pilot retained by van Bork refused to fly the challenging route
Archaeological Dating: Retracing Time (1976)
Daybreak (1976) non-narrated shots filmed in Monument Valley
and environs.
Erosion and Weathering: Looking at the Land (1976) Grand
Canyon, the Shiprock dike, and a weathered ghost town; exceptional
cinematography
Falling Water (1976) non-narrated
Indian Art of the Pueblos (1976) Baskets,
pottery, weaving, stone, silver, Kachinas made by modern artists using
traditional themes.
Biological Rhythms: Studies in Chronology (1977)
Volcano: Birth of a Mountain (1977) Mauna Ulu filmed in
process of formation.
What is Ecology? (1977)
Fossils: Exploring the Past (1978)
Richard Hunt: Sculptor (1978) Junkyard artist.
Biology: Exploring the Living World (1979)
Christmas in Germany: a Story of Giving (1979)
Earth Science: Exploring the Planet Earth (1979)
Minerals and Rocks (1979)
Continental Drift: the Theory of Plate Tectonics (1980)
Energy From the Sun (2nd ed.) (1980) Large solar collectors,
etc.
Gift of the Magi (1980)
Magic Shop (1980)
Necklace (1980)
Water Cycle (1980, 2nd ed.)
What is a Short Story? A Discussion by Clifton Fadiman (1980,
produced by Van Bork)
Ocean Dynamics - The Work of the Sea (1981)
Photosynthesis (1981, 3rd ed.) Negative placed on a leaf
produces a positive; time-lapse, microcinematography
Rivers: the Work of Running Water (1981)
Rock Cycle (1982) Sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic
rocks
Earthquakes: Exploring the Earth's Restless Crust (1983)
Evolution of Landscapes (1986)
Flood Forecasting (1986)
Geologic Time (1986)
Plankton and the Open Sea (1986, 2nd ed., may also be titled
Beginning of the Food Chain: Plankton)
Protists: Form, Function, and Ecology (1986, 2nd ed.)
Parasitic intestinal protists, death of paramecium, window in cow stomach
Life: How Do We Define It? (1987)
Viruses: What They Are and How They Work (1988)
