MOVIE · 1989
A Tale of the Wind
DocumentaryDramaFantasy80 min
An aging filmmaker travels through China trying to do something almost impossible: capture the wind on film. As Joris Ivens moves from documentary observation to staged encounters and dreamlike visions, the trip becomes more than a travelogue. The search keeps slipping out of reach, and each attempt sends the film into another register—street scenes, landscapes, Peking opera, and fantasies that turn the natural world into something teasing and elusive. With Ivens himself at the center, the story folds his memories and reflections on a lifetime behind the camera into the journey, so the chase after the wind becomes a reckoning with art, age, and what images can hold.
Find out what fits your taste.
Rate movies and shows in ReelRecs, save your next watch, and get personal recommendations from the Reel Recs online service. Free on iPhone and Android.
Where to watch in US
These offers have not all been recently verified. Check the provider for current availability.
We could not verify a streaming option for this country.
Offers can change. Rentals and purchases are separate from subscriptions.
More to consider
From the East (1993)
D'Est, translated into English as From the East, is a 16-mm experimental documentary film, shot in Poland, Ukraine, Russia and the former East Germany. The film investigates the stories of people’s lives in an unstable …
Lightning Over Water (1980)
Terminally ill and determined to keep working, director Nicholas Ray invites Wim Wenders to New York to help him make one last film. Wenders, between Hollywood projects, turns his camera on Ray as the two talk through a…
News from Home (1976)
Chantal Akerman turns her camera on 1970s New York, pairing long, carefully framed street scenes and subway rides with letters from her mother, read in Akerman’s own voice. The filmmaker remains offscreen, but the film’…
Catalogue checked October 30, 2026. Use ReelRecs with an assistant