Cinéma Militant: Political Filmmaking and May 1968

233 Pages·2016·2.9 MB·English

by  Paul Douglas Grant

CINÉMA
MILITANT
Political
Filmmaking
& May 1968
Paul Douglas Grant
Cinéma Militant

Cinéma Militant
Political Filmmaking and May 1968
Paul Douglas Grant
WALLFLOWER PRESS
LONDON & NEW YORK
A Wallflower Press Book
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Cover design by Elsa Mathern
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
List of Abbreviations viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Wildcat Strikes and Wildcat Cinema in May ’68: ARC 7
1.1 What is cinéma militant? 7
1.2 Interrogating the absence 11
1.3 Production eclipsed by theory 13
1.4 Reception in English: Sylvia Harvey’s May ’68 and Film Culture 16
1.5 History in France 19
1.6 The cinema of May 1968 27
Chapter 2 Jean-Pierre Thorn: “No investigation, no right to speak” 35
2.1 Jean-Pierre Thorn and Oser lutter, oser vaincre 35
2.2 The strike at Flins, as told by Jean-Pierre Thorn/Ligne rouge 36
2.3 Ligne rouge 44
2.4 Cinéma Libre 54
2.5 Les établis 58
2.6 La grève des ouvriers de Margoline 61
2.7 Le dos au mur 65
2.8 Georgette Vacher 74
Chapter 3 Cinélutte: “Tout ce qui bouge est rouge” 77
3.1 Cinélutte beginnings 77
3.2 Jusqu’au bout 89
3.3 Petites têtes, grandes surfaces – anatomie d’un supermarché 93
3.4 Bonne chance la France 98
3.5 À pas lentes 110
v
Chapter 4 Les groupes Medvedkine: Before and After Chris Marker 119
4.1 The adventure of Les groupes Medvedkine 119
4.2 Medvedkin and the Cine-Train 119
4.3 CCPPO 123
4.4 Two productions by the CCPPO 126
4.5 Le groupe Medvedkine Besançon 131
4.6 Le groupe Medvedkine Sochaux 143
Chapter 5 Of Theory and Peasants: Groupe Cinéthique 151
5.1 Groupe Cinéthique 151
5.2 Le Front Paysan 162
5.3 Les Handicapés méchants and Bon pied bon oeil et toute sa tête 165
Conclusion 173
Notes 177
Filmography 203
Bibliography 211
Index 217

vi
Acknowledgments
T
his book could not have been completed without the assistance of the following film-
makers, scholars, artists and workers, who were all very generous with their time: Jean-
Pierre Thorn, Nicole Brenez, Jacques Kèbadian, Michel Andrieu, Jean-Denis Bonan,
Roger Journot, Sebastian Layerle, Richard Copans, Robert Linhart, Nicole Linhart, Leslie
Kaplan, Alain Nahum, Guy-Patrick Sainderichin, Jean-Paul Fargier, Gérard Leblanc, Pierre
Buraglio, Guy Chapouillé and Front Paysan, Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, Tanguy Perron,
Serge Le Péron, Monique Martineau, the people at Ciné-Archives, Forum des images, the
Cinémathèque Française, ISKRA, Les Films d’ici, Centre Culturel Populaire de Palente-les
Orchamps, Ethan Spigland, the late Paul Ryan, Robert Stam, Dana Polan, Manthia Diawara,
David Oubiña, the late Bob Sklar, Richard Porton, Martin Johnson, Dominic Gavin, Jihoon
Kim, Priyadarshini Shanker, Greg Zinman, Rebecca Miller and finally my colleagues at the
University of San Carlos School of Architecture, Fine Arts and Design for their patience
during the writing of this project, especially Misha Anissimov, Joseph Espina, Araceli Culibra
and my co-chair in the SAFAD Research Committee, Kimberly Gultia.
Special thanks go to Nicolas Dubost, who shared not only his incredible experience as an
établi at Renault-Flins, but also his season tickets to PSG. And to Yann Le Masson; truly one
of the highlights of this project was getting the chance to meet this incredible militant on his
barge in Avignon along with his committed companion Catie, before he passed away in January
2012.
Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the support of my family, Maryann
Douglas, Andrew and Roberta Grant, Pascale Wettstein, and Malcolm and Sidney Grant.
À Pascale, Malou et Sid

vii
List of Abbreviations
ACO Action catholique ouvrière JCR Jeunesse communiste révolutionnaire
AFO Association familiale ouvrière LCR Ligue communiste révolutionnaire
AOF Afrique Occidentale Française MCF-ML Mouvement communiste français
ARC Atelier de recherche cinématographique marxiste–léniniste
ATTAC Association pour la taxation des MEDEF Mouvement des enterprises de France
transactions financières et pour l’action ML Marxist–Leninist
citoyenne MLAC Le mouvement pour la liberté de
CCPPO Centre culturel populaire de Palente- l’avortement et de la contraception
les-Orchamps MLF Le mouvement de la libération des
CERFI Centre d’études de recherches et de femmes
formation institutionnelles MLP Mouvement de libération du people
CFDT Confédération française démocratique OCI L’Organisation communiste internationale
du travail OCT Organisation communiste des travailleurs
CNPF Conseil national du patronat française PAIGC Partido Africano da Independência da
CoBrA Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam Guiné e Cabo Verde
postwar art collective PCF Parti communiste français
CPDF Coopérative de production et de PCI Parti communiste internationaliste
distribution du film PCR(ml) Parti communiste révolutionnaire
CRP Les cinéastes révolutionnaires prolétariens marxiste–léniniste
CRS Compagnies républicaines de sécurité PLOCC Palente-Les-Orchamps Centre
DEUG Diplôme d’études universitaires Culturel
générales PSU Parti socialiste unifié
FGERI Fédération des groupes d’études et de SDS Students for a Democratic Society
recherches institutionelles SFIO Section française de l’internationale
FLN Front de libération nationale ouvrière
FRELIMO Frente de Libertação de SLON Société pour le lancement des oeuvres
Moçambique nouvelles
GONG Groupe d’organisation nationale de la SRF Société des réalisateurs de films
Guadeloupe UEC Union des étudiants communistes
GP La gauche prolétarienne UJCML Union des jeunesses communistes
IDHEC L’Institut des hautes études marxistes–léninistes
cinématographiques UNCAL Union nationale des comités d’action
ISKRA Image, son, kinescope et réalisations lycéens
audiovisuelles UPCB L’Unité de production cinéma Bretagne
viii
Introduction1
I
n the 74th issue of the French film journal Écran, Guy Hennebelle opened his column,
“La vie est à nous”, with “As you read this the Third Assembly of Cinéma Militant (excuse
me: ‘multimedia of social and political intervention’ [l’audiovisuel d’intervention sociale et
politique]) has already taken place […] What is the future of this cinema we call militant? Is it
destined to disappear or will it renew itself?”2 The issue of Écran marked the tenth anniversary of
the political upheaval in France during May 1968, and thus this somewhat mournful reflection
was not entirely misplaced; in fact, the text pointed to a number of issues that had to some extent
plagued this “cinéma dit militant” from its inception. For instance, did this filmmaking tradition
have any future outside the immediate political context of May? Was the term cinéma militant
the most appropriate description of this cultural practice? And how could this cinema reach a
wider audience while still remaining faithful to the political context that gave rise to it?
Yet these questions were posed from within the milieu, addressing those filmmakers, theo-
rists and militants of many stripes who had been wrestling with these issues in their film prac-
tice for at least a decade. However, for those not on familiar terms with cinéma militant, it was
perhaps premature to begin mourning its possible death. It would seem, rather, that in order to
articulate cinéma militant’s history, its aims, its aesthetic strategies and its potentials, it would be
necessary to open the floor to some preliminary questions, particularly the question as to what
exactly constituted this cinematic practice. Were there aesthetic similarities, political affini-
ties, and organisational and production strategies which all aligned to give a discrete picture
of cinéma militant? These are the questions that this book attempts to address, those nascent
questions at the heart of a practice that remained strangely outside the purview of historians of
cinema and radical politics alike.
Pascale Casanova remarked that Paris had long been “La République mondiale des lettres”,
but throughout the late 1960s and 1970s it was equally the capital of the “République mondiale
du cinéma révolutionnaire”. This book examines the French tradition of cinéma militant, which
flourished during the immediate aftermath of the events of May 1968, producing a wide range
of film work from underrepresented populations that included such varied groups as entry-level
factory workers (ouvriers spécialisés, or OS), highly theoretical Marxist–Leninist collectives, and
even the militant special needs community. Counteracting the dearth of attention paid to these
1