Godard's latest: Film Soicalisme (2010)

Haven't had a chance to see this yet but can't wait. The likes of Patti Smith and Alain Badiou in the same film(!)

Godard's '68 Generation Maoist politics were increasingly on display in films like Tout Va Bien (1972) in ways that can ring a little shrill from the standpoint of the present. While the generally anti-imperialist political valences of Notre Musique (2004) lay just beneath the surface, its critique is more subtle, more nuanced if less coherent. But who wants art that explicitly polemicizes, a move that puts even the most progressive artworks at risk of becoming "cryptograms of domination," to use Adorno's phrase? In its least coherent moments, though, Notre Musique risks becoming not a little exploitative in that Western-appropriation-of-the-Other kind of way, reducing, say, the political history of the U.S. genocide of Native Americans (yes, I called it a genocide) and the struggles of Bosnian Muslims to more or less equivalent terms. So what exactly is the nature of Godard's ongoing engagement with socialism?

Tout Va Bien

Notre Musique

To complicate matters, here's a short exchange Harper's ran recently in its always edifying "Readings" section between Godard's PR person and a would-be devotee:

Le petit sold-out

From emails exchanged on August 27 about an unauthorized screening of Jean-Luc Godard’s Film Socialisme scheduled for that evening at the New York City activist art organization 16 Beaver Group in collaboration with the film collective Red Channels. On August 23, Scott Foundas, an organizer of the New York Film Festival, which was hosting the film’s official U.S. premiere, demanded that the 16 Beaver screening be canceled and notified the film’s international distributor, Wild Bunch. Vincent Maraval is a producer as well as a sales agent for Wild Bunch.

Dear Scott,

As a co-organizer of 16 Beaver Group, I was forwarded your recent emails. I have to say I was alarmed by the arrogant and legalistic tone of your email. At screenings like this we are invested in having a productive and in-depth discussion that takes seriously cinema as a political project—the kind of treatment for which Film Socialisme seems to call.

We had no idea that Film Socialisme was considered a commercial project. We had planned a screening before your lineup was announced. We planned to screen a digital file, for free, which has been made available (not through us) for free for some months now. It was my impression that this mode of circulation had been encouraged by the filmmaker. Given our cultural cachet among a younger set of filmgoers, such a screening would facilitate a renewed interest in the recent work of the Great Master, perhaps making Godard cool and relevant again. I would suggest that were you in a different mood about this matter, the NYFF and Wild Bunch should be thanking us for providing this free service. Our screening has been canceled, but since you have demanded proof, we request that you, Scott Foundas, come to 16 Beaver to discuss why the screening cannot take place. Within this discussion, we would hope to hear a specific application of intellectual-property law to Film Socialisme, perhaps even a close reading of the final scene. I imagine you’ve seen it? The last lines of the film fading in over an FBI copyright warning, quand la loi n’est pas juste, passe avant la loi . . . no comment.

We would also be interested in hearing about different modes of writing about film—how does one go from film criticism to legal threats, and what does that feel like? We have been holding talks and discussions for many years about the cultural dimensions of economic neoliberalism. These questions of institution and professionalization are of great interest to us. We would like to hold this event, “Socialisme Will Not Take Place,” sometime prior to the festival.

Best Regards,
Benj Gerdes

Dear Sir,

The problem is that you seem considering that films belong to you and you ignore the copyrights. For films to be made, we need money and against money copyrights. Jean-Luc never encouraged his films to be seen for free. He never encouraged piracy. Jean-Luc just says that we should not pay rights for using footages of other films because while authors have rights they also have obligations, obligations to make available their footages for other artists. I know by heart the position of people like you, which is to deny property for your personal use but you big generosity to make GODARD relevant stops when it comes to remunerate the author himself. Quentin TARANTINO called his company A BAND APART in tribute to GODARD. A journalist asked GODARD what he was thinking about TARANTINO admiration and he replied, “I don’t give a shit, I would prefer him to give me money,” but of course he let him call his company that way without asking for anything.

So, we thank you for your attempt to “make GODARD relevant” but we work on that since many years now with the support of national distributors worldwide and festivals that bring us advertisement and high-profile screenings, and I even have the feeling that the announcement of his career OSCAR for next November has nothing to do with the announcement of your screening through a “file made available.” I would have liked to come to explain to your viewers what piracy is and comment on your political statement that makes everything available for free because quand la loi est injuste, la justice passe avant la loi but I can’t be there as I will be in Venice and Toronto trying to exploit and run a commercial operation. I hope we can find you a better material than a file next year and screen FILM SOCIALISME to your friends and debate about the possibility of leaving with your projector and your TV screen.

Best Regards,
Vincent Maraval