The Belgian director Henri Storck (1907-1999) explains visually the strong reciprocal interaction of European culture on the basis of landscape paintings. By filming 59 landscape paintings, he takes the audience on a cultural tour through Belgium, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands from the 16th to the 19th century. Flowing transitions/fadings from one painting to the other visualize the artistic European interdependence. Due to the fact that the film was commissioned by the WEU, neither German nor Italian landscape paintings are pictured. The film was nominated for a BAFTA Award (Category: Best Documentary) in 1952.

Genre
Documentary

Credits
Production Country: Belgium, France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, The Netherlands
Film Production Company: Artifex Film (Amsterdam) in collaboration with Prociné (Bruxelles), Crown Film Unit (London), Les Films d’Ariel (Paris)
Commissioning Institution: Western European Union
Director: Henri Storck
Producer: S.I. van Nooten
Script: Jean Cassou
Cinematography: Cyril J. Knowles
Film Editing: Unknown
Music: Georges Auric

Technical Information
Original Film Format: 35mm
Duration: 18 minutes
Colour: Colour

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English, French

Video

Fonds Henri Storck, Brussels

These films were digitised from the copy located at: Fonds Henri Storck, Brussels (2019)

Gabriele Clemens: «Auftrag Europa» – Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Filmwerbung der europäischen Gemeinschaften, in: Gabriele Clemens (ed.) : Werben für Europa. Die mediale Konstruktion europäischer Identität durch Europafilme, Paderborn: Schöningh 2016, pp. 43-128.

Other versions of the film in other languages which are not part of this collection are: Het open venster / Das offene Fenster