Direct Action

DIRECT ACTION was shot in northwestern France at the headquarters of ZAD (“zone à défendre”, or “zone to defend”), a grassroots initiative established to combat a state-funded airport project. Since 2009, the members of ZAD have occupied the land as an anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian social experiment. While such narratives of resistance typically play out in a form of cinéma direct, Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau choose a seemingly more detached approach, capturing the numerous activities carried out in the collective, from subsistence farming to breadmaking and self-organisation, in 41 lengthy shots. But the choice of a durational form may not even be an aesthetic choice; it is simply the one that best expresses the polyvalency of ZAD. It is a movement that is not about temporary occupation, but building a sustainable future. It is a community brutally targeted by the state because it put private interests at risk. It is also a place of equality, where all work, including cinema, leads to political action. DIRECT ACTION is a long-term process, Russell has said. Despite the ZAD’s resounding victory, the struggle is never over, as shown in the infamous events of Sainte-Soline that the film leads to. (Antoine Thirion)

In the presence of Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell. 

Guillaume Cailleau: THROUGH (2008, K, KO-REGIE), H(I)J (2009, K), AUSTERITY MEASURES (2012, K, KO-REGIE), LABORAT (2014, K), WUNDERSCHEIN (2018, K), A KIND OF WORLD WAR (2021, KO-REGIE)

Ben Russell: LET EACH ONE GO WHERE HE MAY (2009), AUSTERITY MEASURES (2011, K, KO-REGIE), RIVER RITES (2011, K), A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS (2013, KO-REGIE), GOOD LUCK (2017), THE RARE EVENT (2018, KO-REGIE), THE INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN (2021)