Mai 68: A Library Research Guide: Films and Documentaries

Collectively made by more than 100 factory workers, peasants, students, musicians and film-makers, this is a fictionalized account of a wildcat strike at a garment factory in France during which the seamstresses demand better working conditions. In French with English subtitles.

Documents the assemblies, debates and brawls of France during May 1968. In French.

Based on a novel by Gilbert Adair set in May '68. it was released as a motion picture in 2003. English, Spanish or French language tracks with optional Spanish or English subtitles.

Centers upon a small group of Parisian students who discuss the implications of the cultural revolution in China and how it may be possible to effect, by means of terrorism, a similar political and cultural upheaval in the West. In French with English subtitles.

Features sixteen short documentary films (on 4 DVDs) about the student and workers' movements in France which culminated in protests and riots in May 1968. A few to note include: Le premier mai à Saint-Nazaire / un film de Marcel Trillat et Hubert Knapp (20 min., 1967), La glu / un film de Edouard Hayem (19 min., 1968), Cléon / Alain Laguarda (27 min., 1968) , Nantes Sud Aviation / un film de l'ARC ; Pierre-William Glenn et Michel Andrieu (30 min., 1968), Le joli mois de mai / un film de l'ARC (33 min., 1968). 1968/2008), and Oser lutter, oser vaincre / Groupe ligne rouge (Jean-Pierre Thorn, 88 min., 1968). In French with optional French subtitles.

Documentary footage of the strike and occupation of the factory Alsthom de Saint-Ouen; followed by Tangui Perron interview with Jean-Pierre Thorn, filmmaker and militant (16 min.) and two other featurettes. The industrial, sociological, and political context of France in the late 1970s is explored. In French

Originally broadcast on French television November 23, 1977, an overview of the worldwide political upheavals during the Sixties and Seventies. Interweaves footage from the Vietnam War and the antiwar protests in the U.S., May '68 in Paris, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and more. English, French or German version (with partial subtitles), Portuguese and Spanish subtitles (over French audio).

Motion picture originally produced n 1968 featuring scenes of the May '68 student revolts, the Vietnam war, posters, photographs, and cartoons form the backdrops to their words, which themselves are often their subject, as are images, sounds and juxtapositions. In French with English subtitles.

Originally released as a motion picture in 2005, this is a rapturous paean to Paris in '68 love, youth, and disillusionment. In French with English subtitles.

A 1967 collaborative film which makes use of documentary footage shot in North and South Vietnam and at anti-war demonstrations in the United States; a fictional vignette and a monologue that dramatize the self-interrogation of European intellectuals; interviews with Fidel Castro and Anne Morrison and more. Filmed in French. Optional subtitles in French or English.

Feature film depicting a group of revolutionary French students experiences rebellion, enlightenment, and change in 1968 while establishing a commune devoted to free love, anarchy, and nudism, only to see their children eventually engage in a similarly styled rebellion 20 years later. In French with English subtitles.

Includes À bientôt j'espère (Be seeing you), the 1967 film by Chris Marker and Mario Marret about a strike and factory occupation--the first in France since 1936--by textile workers in the city of Besançon. Classe de lutte (Class of Struggle) is the first film of "The Medvedkin Group and picks up a year later and focuses on the organizing efforts of workers at a nearby watch factory. In French with English subtitles.

The story of a wildcat strike at a sausage factory in France, as witnessed by an American reporter and her has-been New Wave film director husband. Culminates in a free-range assault on consumer capitalism and ineffective leftists. A caustic critique of society, marriage, and revolution in post-1968 France. In French with English subtitles.

A warm and joyous film celebrating the friendship between two women with sharply different personalities. The film follows their lives and friendship over a period of 14 years as each seeks to control her destiny and find contentment. In French with English subtitles.