A concentrated look at one of France’s most important militant communities – a group of activists, farmers, anarchists, and “eco-terrorists” who have spent more than twenty years defending the fragile ecosystem of the marshes in northwestern France against the construction of a regional airport. Named Best Film in this year’s Encounters competition at the Berlinale, Direct Action skips the tabloid aesthetics of violent clashes and instead depicts the community members’ everyday tasks: kneading dough, sharpening saws, keeping watch at night. A hypnotic observational documentary that finds a hopeful symbiosis of man and nature at a time of environmental crisis, it also sheds light on the sensitive relationship between a film’s subjects and the people behind the camera.
Vojtěch Kočárník
212 min / Color, DCP
Director Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell
/ Screenplay Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell
/ Dir. of Photography Ben Russell
/ Sound Rob Walker, Nicolas Becker
/ Editor Ben Russell, Guillaume Cailleau
/ Producer Guillaume Cailleau
/ Production CaSk Films
/ Coproduction Volte Films
/ Sales Shellac
Guillaume Cailleau (1978, Saumur, France). Selected filmography: Austerity Measures (2012, short, co-dir.), Laborat (2014, short doc.), Direct Action (2024, doc., co-dir.). Ben Russell (1976, USA). Selected filmography: Atlantis (2014, short doc.), He Who Eats Children (2016, short doc.), Good Luck (2017, doc.), Direct Action (2024, doc., co-dir.).
Shellac
La Friche Belle de Mai, 41 rue Jobin, 13003, Marseille
France
Phone: +33 495 049 609
E-mail: [email protected]
Guillaume Cailleau
Film Director
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