Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves
Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n’ont fait que se creuser un tombeau
SECTION: International Forum 2017
SCREENINGS
Tuesday, 03.10., 5.00 p.m., kommkino, Q&A with Mathieu Denis
SYNOPSIS
Different picture sizes, blocks of text, and cuts to news channels, documentary footage and re-enacted scenes: This feature uses all the registers of avant-garde filmmaking, but still manages to be a gripping film about the meanderings (and errings) of radical protest forms. Inspired by the student demos of 2012 in Canada – that triggered the “Maple Spring” – the directors use the language of radical cinema to paint a tense, depressing and profoundly ambivalent picture of radicalism.
The film follows four radical left-wing activists who employ vandalism and terror to foment an uprising against capitalism, succeeding both in making their anger understandable but also in questioning their methods and goals.
“In the opening sequence, four twentysomethings, under cover of darkness, deface a row of commercial billboards to read, “People do not see yet that they are miserable. We will show them.” Working under the aliases Klas Batalo (Gabrielle Tremblay), Ordinne Nuovo (Emmanuelle Lussier-Martinez), Tumulto (Laurent Belanger), and Guitizia (Charlotte Aubin), they form their own underground commune to do just that, all while maintaining a brutally austere lifestyle in line with their values. Living collectively off the cash Batalo earns as a transgender prostitute, they barely have enough money for food, much less a political operation, but their anger and desperation breeds a surprising resourcefulness.” (Variety, Scott Tobias)
MATHIEU DENIS
Mathieu Denis was born in Montréal, Canada in 1977. He studied cinema at the Université du Québec in Montréal. Denis first began working as an editor before turning to writing and directing in 2006. His short films Le Silence nous fera écho and Code 13 were screened at numerous festivals around the world. He co-wrote and co-directed his first feature Laurentie with Simon Lavoie. Laurentie premiered at Karlovy Vary and won awards at many international festivals. His feature film Corbo was shown at the Berlinale in 2015.
FILMOGRAPHY
Laurentie (2011), Corbo (2014), Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves (2016).
SIMON LAVOIE
Simon Lavoie was born in Charlevoix, Canada in 1979. He studied film at the Université du Québec in Montréal. After making several short and medium-length films, he wrote and directed his debut feature film Le Déserteur in 2008. His film Le Torrent, a poetic adaptation of a work by the Canadian writer Anne Hébert, premiered at the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montréal. This was followed by two collaborations with Mathieu Denis: Laurentie and Those Who Make Revolutions Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves.
FILMOGRAPHY
Le Déserteur (2008), Laurentie (2011), Le Torrent (2012), Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves (2016).
WEBSITE
http://www.artetessai.ca/revolutions
