When: Friday, October 28, 2011
Time: 1:00PM
Location: Communications 150 (Studio C)
Total Running Time: 5 Hours, 45 minutes
La Commune (Paris, 1871) is a historical re-enactment in the style of a documentary about the French revolutionary government established by the people of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). For the film, we travel back in time to 1871 where a journalist for Versailles Television broadcasts a soothing and official view of events while a Commune television is set up to provide the perspectives of the Paris rebels. On a stage-like set, more than 200 actors interpret characters of the Commune, especially the Popincourt neighborhood in the XIth arrondissement. Shot in just 13 days in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Paris, the large cast is mainly non-professional, including many immigrants from North Africa. They voice their own thoughts and feelings concerning the social and political reforms. The telling of this story rests primarily on depicting the people of the Commune, and those who suppressed them.
The screening will be followed by a discussion.