Being Political in the Age of Nihilism
A Short History of the Kourtrajmé Filmmaking Collective
The article describes the rise of Kourtrajmé, the French filmmaking collective that was founded by Toumani Sangaré, Romain Gavras and Kim Chapiron in the mid-1990s. Their creative spirit makes them descendants of the rich tradition of filmmaking collectives in the history of French cinema, even though the filmmakers themselves describe their creativity as a direct response to their urban environment, which is why their films do not appear to be openly political. In their Les Misérables (2019), the author sees an important step on the path of the collective, which now tries to build on their spirit of playfulness and provocativeness to reach a wider audience.
The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!