De brug

A study in motion of the newly opened railway lift bridge over the Koningshaven in Rotterdam, filmed in October 1927. The film begins by introducing the subject and tools – titles, a technical drawing, wide shots of the towering bridge, and the filmmaker behind his Kinamo camera. The structure is simple and almost symmetrical: the bridge is closed, opens, and closes again. Through dynamic angles, we see trains racing across as the bridge operates: the bridge master halts traffic, the central span rises, ships pass through, and the trains resume their journey. The film ends with an abstract image of a shifting black square. De brug marked a major breakthrough for Joris Ivens and the Dutch avant-garde film movement.