En forårsdag i Helvede

In 1973 poet, sports journalist, filmmaker and fairly good amateur cyclist Jorgen Leth made his first film about his favourite sport. In The Stars and the Water Carriers he, together with only one cameraman and one sound engineer, focusses on the three-week bicycle race the Giro d'Italia. In those days stars like Eddy Merckx and Carlos Fuente were competing in this stage race. Three years later Leth again pointed his camera at whizzing tyres and spinning pedals. With En forårsdag i helvede he portrayed the cycling classic Paris-Roubaix. In the month preceding the race Leth scrutinised the 270 km-long route. On the day of the race as many as 27 cameramen, one in a helicopter, registered the chaos, the sweat, the exertion and the victory. With this film Leth made a permanent name for himself as a brilliant maker of (sports) documentaries in the cinema vérité tradition. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)