Une vie manifeste (A Life, A Manifesto), Jean-Gabriel Périot’s tribute to Michèle Firk

How did you find out about Michèle Firk?

Her name often came up in books I was reading about the cinema of the 1950’s and 60’s. Her name, among others, is mentioned in relation to cinema and politics, as well as revolutionary struggle.

What was it about her that you found so appealing?

First and foremost, it’s her passion for cinema. She didn’t finish any films, but she started some. She was a woman and she was aware that she didn’t come from the right social class. There is an energy in that which really caught my interest, the idea of highly politically engaged, activist cinema. Then there is also her radicalism — all of a sudden she’s combining that with a highly illegal struggle for the Algerian National Liberation Front, only to end up fighting a guerrilla war in Guatemala.

Would you also say that cinema is a vehicle for activism?

She and I are not from the same generation. I believe that cinema can be highly political, but the idea of activist cinema — by that I mean taking your reels and films to factories and out to meet the public, rather than simply releasing films in theatres — that’s something I do myself, but only on a tiny scale compared to what was being done back in the day.

“I feel like we lack a bit of commitment in both real life and in cinema” – Jean-Gabriel Périot

The film deals with an idealist. Do you think we still live in an idealistic era?

I find our current era a bit uninspiring, and we still have the cinema of her era…but we don’t only need activist cinema. We also need entertainment cinema, cinema that lets us dream. That said, I do feel that there is rather a lack of commitment in real life, as well as in cinema.

You have a very visual relationship with archival images. Do you craft the images, or do you allow them to guide you?

It’s a bit of both. If you take a film like this one, some of the footage is straightforward, especially the rare scenes where Michèle appears. Then there’s also everything we uncover as part of the research process — unexpected things. I incorporate these into the story I’m telling. I also use my own emotions a lot during editing, and emotions are never totally rational.

When Michèle Firk died, all she left behind was her writing. Is it also the role of images and cinema to preserve a trace of someone?

That is one of its key purposes. Images, more broadly than cinema, as well as photography and video — enabling us to preserve an era. They can even serve as a form of proof, as a way of showing that a particular thing actually existed.

Do you feel a duty to preserve memories?

I wouldn’t express it quite like that. When I start a film, I’m drawn to stories I don’t know, and I ask myself: why wasn’t Michèle Firk better known, when others of her time have been preserved in history? That is something I find moving and I want to share it. I like to relay the story, then let viewers make up their own minds.

Who are the documentary makers and filmmakers who have influenced you?

Alain Resnais, Chris Marker… The 50s and 60s were a time of very poetic cinema that was also quite politically radical. In terms of their form, these were highly polished films, made by people who were trying to avoid making films in the way they were usually made at the time.