Our Defeats / Nos défaites (2019) dir. Jean-Gabriel Périot

Périot’s inspired third feature invites French high school students to reenact key scenes from RESUMPTION OF WORK AT THE WONDER FACTORY, WITH THE BLOOD OF OTHERS, Godard’s LA CHINOISE and other 1960s and 70s films which deal with radical politics. These reenactments are intercut with discussions that explore what, if anything, the subjects of these scenes mean to the students now. Both a lesson in film history and a snapshot of the political present, this smart and subtle film proposes an original perspective on the contemporary state of French cinema’s radical past.