Medvedkin Groups

In 1932, Russian director Aleksandr Medvedkin launched the Cine-Train project—an innovative initiative involving a specially adapted train equipped with a film studio in its carriages. Accompanied by a technical team, Medvedkin traveled across the country producing propaganda films with the participation of local residents. The films were edited directly on the train and projected on-site in the towns they visited. In 1967, a French militant film collective adopted his name to form the Medvedkine Groups.

In March 1967, French director Chris Marker arrived in Besançon after learning of a strike at the Rhodiaceta textile factory. This strike stood out for more than just its demands for improved working conditions—it also challenged the elitist role of culture, with workers demanding greater access to cultural production and participation. In response, Marker created À bientôt, j’espère (1968), a documentary intended to reflect the workers' struggle and their growing labor militancy.

However, the film was not well received by the workers, who criticized it for misrepresenting their reality, struggle, and the gender dynamics within the movement. This critique marked a turning point: the project shifted from an auteur-driven model to a collective filmmaking process in which the workers themselves became the creators.

The first film produced under this new participatory model was Classe de lutte (1969). It tells the story of Suzanne Zedet, a factory worker whose involvement in the Rhodiaceta strike led to her political awakening and active role in the labor rights movement.

This film was followed by others, including Rhodia 4 x 8 (1969), which exposed the harsh working conditions faced by the factory workers, and Nouvelle société nº 5 (1970) and Nouvelle société nº 7 (1970), both of which offered sharp critiques of the French government's rhetoric.

In parallel with the Besançon group, a second Medvedkine Group emerged in Sochaux, this time centered around workers at the local Peugeot factory. Notable works from this group include Sochaux, 11 juin 1968 (1970), documenting the violent repression of the May 1968 strikes, and Weekend à Sochaux (1972), which portrays the everyday lives of factory workers.

Based on the initial experience of À bientôt, j’espère and the workers’ subsequent criticisms, a participatory filmmaking model was developed—one that would ultimately define the identity of the Medvedkine Groups.

This new approach involved training workers in the use of cameras and audiovisual production tools, including sound and editing, so they could create their own films. The methodology broke away from the traditional auteur model, fostering a collective and horizontal production process that dissolved the divide between professional filmmakers and workers. In this way, cinema ceased to be the exclusive domain of experts and became a tool for social struggle, generated from within the conflict itself. At the same time, cultural production was made accessible to workers—one of the key demands of those at the Besançon factory.

The methodology was defined by direct collaboration between filmmakers and workers, technical training that allowed workers to self-manage audiovisual production, and a clear rejection of dominant cultural models, which are often professionalized and hierarchical. Cinema thus became a medium for expressing the demands, conditions, and subjectivities of the working class.

There were methodological variations between the Besançon and Sochaux groups, shaped by their respective contexts as well as by the openness of the production process. While the Besançon group’s films are largely rooted in documentary, used as a tool for exposing conflict, struggle, and political reflection, the Sochaux group more often employed fiction and even irony to portray their experiences.

In short, the methodology of the Medvedkine Groups was grounded in the idea of cinema as a tool for social struggle—used in a non-hierarchical, collaborative, and liberating way.