Direct action is a tactical strategy of protest that seeks to achieve an end directly and by the most effective means. ”Direct Action” is a contemporary portrait of one of the most high-profile militant activist communities in France: a 150-person strong rural collective that successfully resisted an international airport expansion project in 2018, created an autonomous zone between 2012 and 2018, survived multiple violent eviction attempts by the French state and spawned a new ecological movement in 2021.
Using a collaborative and immersive observational approach, the film documents the everyday lives of a diverse ecosystem of activists, squatters, anarchists, farmers and those labelled by the government as “eco-terrorists”. Can the success of a radical protest movement offer a path through the climate crisis? – Berlinale
Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell
DE, FR 2024
Berlinale Encounters Award
216 min | English, Arabic, French
Guillaume Cailleau
Born 1978 in France, lives in Berlin. He was a member of the analog laboratory Berlin. Film producer with his own company CaskFilms. In 2018 he was Artist in Focus at the 13th UX.
Films (selection)
Austerity Measures (with B. Russell) 2012 | Laborat 2014 | Direct Action (with B. Russell) 2024
Ben Russell
Born 1976 in the USA, lives in Marseille. He was an artist at documenta 14 (2017).
Films (selection)
Let Each One Go … 2009 (5. UX) | A Spell … 2013 (with Ben Rivers) (9. UX) | Good Luck 2017 (12. UX) | The Invisible Mountain 2021 | Direct Action (with G. Cailleau) 2024
Credits
DOP: Ben Russell | E: Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell | S: Bruno Auzet | SD: Rob Walker, Nicolas Becker | P: Guillaume Cailleau, Michel Balagué | Sales: Guillaume Cailleau