DIRECT ACTION

The ZAD in Notre-Dame-des-Landes is France’s best-known area occupied by activists. Filmmakers Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russel spent many months filming with the activists, capturing their current way of life. Utopian conditions have become possible in the area – and yet the community remains overshadowed by the political tensions in France under Emmanuel Macron. DIRECT ACTION shows how political action begins on a small scale: in every movement in the kitchen, in the sense of community and solidarity, in the rhythm of everyday life. The film won the main prize in the Encounters competition at the Berlinale. (Dennis Vetter)