April selection

THE MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCE
UN PAYS QUI SE TIENT SAGE

• Director: David Dufresne
• FRANCE / 2020 / H264 / Colour / 86’ / English, French; Turkish s.t.

• Screenplay: David Dufresne
• Director of Photography: Edmond Carrère
• Editing: Florent Mangeot
• Producer: Bertrand Faivre
• Production Co.: Le Bureau, Jour2fête
• World Sales: The Bureau Sales

This film is screened within the Documentaries section of the festival programme.

Theme Sponsor

Videos of clashes between the police and demonstrators during the yellow vests movement in France between November 2018 and February 2020 make up the basis of this film, as well as a panel of citizens (several historians, academics, several lawyers, the UN’s special rapporteur, police union representatives, a journalist, but also victims of violence) expressing their opinions. The identities of the panellists are only revealed with the end credits, though.  Taking off from Max Weber’s theory that "the state claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force," director David Dufresne views the videos as cinema vérité as opposed to the citizen’s expressions as "words, conversation, and dialogue," and claims "to still believe in the virtues of dialogue, even if it’s increasingly difficult to do so."

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.