 |
Lange Nacht der Museen
1. September 2007
19.00: After a short introduction by Madeleine Bernstorff, we will show the film
La Commune (1999) von Peter Watkins
The Shedhalle is showing La Commune as part of the Long Night of Museums.
Almost six hours in length, Peter Watkins’ film (F 1999, 345 min) on the Paris Commune of 1871 relies extensively on the varied input of the more than 200 amateur and professional actors making up its cast, who spent a year researching the history of the Commune, writing in part their own dialogues, and bringing to bear their own personal political praxis and convictions. In addition, two anachronistic television companies are introduced into the plot: the state-run Versailles TV and the self-organized Commune station, a constellation opening up debate on possible alternatives to the totalitarian “monoform” structure of the media. Watkins’ idea of history connects past, present, and future, and the film is concerned with the problem of how to adequately represent the principles of self-organization and collectivity, including the dissonance within the Commune. The Paris uprising is thus not depicted in terms of a history of its failure, but rather as marking the starting point of a broader historical reflection. To name one example: through Algerian communards, La Commune refers to the Maghreb and thus directs attention to the Berber uprisings taking place simultaneously to the Paris Commune and today’s migration.
For an essay on the film, see: http://eipcp.net/transversal/1003/poeschl/en
back to filmprogramme overview |
|
|
archive