Marxism and Film Activism: Screening Alternative Worlds

In Theses on Feuerbach, Marx writes "The philosophers have only interpreted the world differently; the point is to change it." This collection examines how filmmakers have tried to change the world by engaging in emancipatory politics in their work, and how audiences have received them. It presents a wide spectrum of case studies, covering both film and digital technology, with examples from throughout cinematic history and around the world, including Soviet Russia, Palestine, South America, and France. Discussions range from the classic Marxist cinema of Aleksandr Medvedkin, Chris Marker, and Jean-Luc Godard, to recent media such as 5 Broken Cameras (2010), the phenomena of video-blogging, and bicycle activism films.


Contents:

Introduction
Ewa Mazierska and Lars Kristensen

PART I: PAST ACTIVISM

Chapter 1. Between socialist modernisation and cinematic modernism: the revolutionary politics of aesthetics of Medvedkin’s cinema-train.
Gal Kirn

Chapter 2. Politics and Aesthetics within Godard’s Cinema.
Jeremy Spencer

Chapter 3. Marker, Activism and Melancholy: Reflections on the Radical ‘60s in the later films of Chris Marker.
Jon Kear

Chapter 4. Marx Immemorial: workers and peasants in the cinema of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet.
Manuel Ramos Martinez

Chapter 5. In the Heat of the Factory: The Global Fires of The Hour of the Furnaces.
Bruce Williams


PART II: PRESENT ACTIVISM

Chapter 6. Contemporary political cinema: the impossibility of passivity.
William Brown

Chapter 7. Cultural resistance through film: The case of Palestinian cinema.
Haim Bresheeth

Chapter 8. The Contemporary Landscape of Video-Activism in Britain.
Steve Presence

Chapter 9. Marxist Resistance at Bicycle Speed: Screening the Critical Mass Movement.
Lars Kristensen

Chapter 10. Tales of a video blogger.
Michael Chanan

Chapter 11. Recovering the Future: Marxism and Film Audiences.
Martin Barker

Notes on Contributors

Index

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