May 68 happened 40 years ago…

While we primarily think of France when we think of the time period associated with student protests and a general sense of shaking up old society, events were happening throughout the world. Like the heightened sense of political involvement, cinema was also a source of motivation and inspiration during this time and May 68 was heavily documented by filmmakers everywhere.

GreenCineDaily has a great post up about the different film series that are happening around the world in honor of the 40th anniversary of the events in 1968. Here in New York City:

“New Yorkers can mark the occasion with two rich and wide-ranging programs that aim to capture, on screen, the spirit of that bygone age,” writes AO Scott in the New York Times. “One, at Film Forum (Friday through June 5), is devoted to [Jean-Luc] Godard in the 1960s, when he was at the height of his influence, productivity and creative power. The other, at Lincoln Center (Tuesday through May 14), stretches across geography, time and genre:

from Paris and Chicago to Hungary, Japan and Brazil; from journalistic documentaries to agitprop and experimental theater; from defiant in-the-moment statements of revolutionary zeal to somber post-mortem contemplations of ideological exhaustion and political defeat…. To rediscover 40 years later some of the cinematic experiments of 1968 is to be amazed at how raw, how urgent, how disarmingly alive these films are.” [GCD]

In my dreams I am alive and living in Paris in 1968 - so the chance to engage with films from and about that time is super exciting. I’ll be covering some of the specifics of each series in more detail as May unfolds. For now, watch some trailers below for films featured in the series at Film Forum and Lincoln Center and be sure to and learn how you can “speak your peace” today!