We are in the year 1871. A journalist for Versailles Television broadcasts a soothing and official view of events while a Commune television is set up to provide the perspectives of the Paris rebels. On a stage-like set, more than 200 actors interpret characters of the Commune, especially the Popincourt neighborhood in the XIth arrondissement. They voice their own thoughts and feelings concerning the social and political reforms. The telling of this story rests primarily on depicting the people of the Commune, and those who suppressed them.

All of Peter Watkins films are events. When he tackles a historical moment of such magnitude as the Paris Commune of 1871, Watkins provokes, disturbs, jostles. The story, based on a thorough historical research, leads to an inevitable reflection about the present. In memory of the revolutionary filmmaker who passed away in 2025, this event is a combined screening and discussion of his experimental non-fiction film which examines one of the most significant experiments in and of freedom in modern history, the Paris Commune. A rare screening of the full-version of this work, which runs 345 minutes, this event will enable participants to fully immerse themselves in Watkins’ cinematic experiment and have the opportunity to discuss it with their peers after, following the tradition of public debate that the film itself puts to the center. This screening will also provide a unique chance to reflect on what freedom means in our current social-political present.

“Deliberately, this film is an attempt to challenge existing notions of documentary film, as well as the notions of ‘neutrality’ and ‘objectivity’ so beloved by the mass media today. For Peter Watkins, to make a film is to question his own work as a filmmaker. LA COMMUNE represents an uncompromising challenge to modern media and a penetrating critique.” – Icarus Films

Post-screening discussion led by Patrick Lyons, Assistant Professor of French at Case Western Reserve University.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided free of charge during intermissions. To eliminate financial barriers to access, free tickets will be available at the box office. Please reach out to bsisman@cia.edu to inquire.

A Cleveland Humanities Festival event, sponsored by the Baker-Nord Institute for the Humanities.

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Context  on La Commune: La Commune is the name given to the French revolutionary government established by the people of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). On March 17 and 18, Parisians led an uprising against the national government, which fled the capital and re-established itself in Versailles. The radicals established a proletarian government in Paris, called the Central Committee of the National Guard, and set March 26 as the date for the election of a municipal council. This council became known as the Commune of 1871, and its members as Communards. Most Communards were followers of Louis Auguste Blanqui, a revolutionary held prisoner in Versailles by the head of the National Assembly, Adolphe Thiers. Other Communards supported the school of socialism expounded by the French philosopher Pierre Joseph Proudhon and members of the International Workingmen’s Association, of which Karl Marx was then a corresponding secretary.