This year several new articles and books were published about the American writer Ernest Hemingway, Joris Ivens and their cooperation in Spain for the film about the Spanish Civil War. The author Hemingway actively participated in March and April 1937 at the war front filming The Spanish Earth. Stacey Guill, who earlier in the Ivens magazine wrote the article `"Now You Have Seen It": Ernest Hemingway, Joris Ivens and The Spanish Earth` wonders what he contributed to the film, and what influence they had on each other. Because it was a team effort. Ivens said: “It is still my opinion that any film, including any documentary film, has so many sides to its content and its expression that its ideal author is a team, a collective of people who understand each other.” According to Guill accounts by both Ivens and Hemingway attest to their compatible relationship during filming.
Not surprising that thanks to this team effort the contemporary perceptions of reporters, reviewers, and critics about what each individual collaborator contributed to the film are confusingly varied. Guill describes the contributions of each individual inside this ‘team effort’.