WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, OCL CA #353 - Tribute to Jean-Pierre Thorn (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 View online: For a more complete biography, see his profile on the

Maitron https://maitron.fr/thorn-jean-pierre-william/ ---- Jean-Pierre
Thorn, an exceptional activist filmmaker serving the collective (died
July 5, 2025) ---- Anyone who knew Jean-Pierre Thorn, directly or
indirectly, can only be deeply affected by his passing. ---- Already a
Maoist activist (UJCML[1]) in 1968, he was at the gates of Renault Flins
to distribute leaflets relayed by the few activists working at the
factory. After filming the factory and its employees, including the
interior (Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win), Thorn was introduced to the
factory thanks to a workbench, a fellow UJCML activist, but also thanks
to the professional support of Bruno Muel, filmmaker and writer, who
lent equipment and participated in the making of the film. He later
moved to Alsthom Saint-Ouen, where he also masterfully filmed the
workers' strike in his own style, followed by the immigrant workers'
strike at Margoline the following year.

In 1978, he returned to filmmaking. He co-hosted the distribution of the
10-film program entitled Mai 68 par lui-même. In 1980, he directed his
second feature film, Le dos au mur (an inside account of his
working-class experience, particularly the strike at Alsthom), followed
by numerous corporate films and union programs, including the first
inter-works committee TV magazine, "Canal C.E."
In 1989, his first fictional work, I've Got You Under My Skin, tells the
astonishing story of a woman, a nun and then a union leader, who commits
suicide in the aftermath of the left-wing victory of 1981. Since 1995,
he has collaborated with the hip-hop movement and directed three films
that have become emblematic of this culture: Génération Hip Hop, Faire
kiffer les anges, and On n'est pas des marques de vélo.
We cannot ignore important films like L'acre parfum des immortelles
(2019), in which he talks about himself and the woman he loved.

Side by side with the working class, suburban youth, immigrants and
their children, the people of roundabouts, etc., against what
patriarchal capitalism inflicts on the dominated. This committed and
extraordinary filmmaker will be missed, as there are not many filmmakers
left who emerged from the May 1968 revolts. Jean-Pierre Thorn, a child
of May, is a filmmaker at the service of the collective. He is there to
document, to bear witness. He steps back from the subject, even if he
does not share the collective utopia of the Medvedkine group, which
wanted to give the camera to the workers.

He will also be missed by the people of Montreuil who, between 2012 and
2014, fought to save the public cinema - the Méliès - and its theater
manager, Stéphane Goudet, thanks to whom it extended its reach far
beyond the city. The struggle paid off; the theater manager and crew
were reinstated.

Fabienne

Main films:

Oser lutte, oser vaincre, Flins 68, DVD 2008, Éditions Montparnasse (1968).
The Margoline Workers' Strike, DVD 2009, Montparnasse Editions (1973).
Backs to the Wall, DVD 2007, Scope Editions (1980).
I've Got You Under My Skin, DVD 2014, Film Flamme (1990).
Hip Hop Generation (1995).
Making Angels Love You (1996).
We're Not Bike Brands, DVD Sony Music (2002).
Allez Yallah! DVD 2006, L'Harmattan Vidéo (2004-2005).
93, the Beautiful Rebel, DVD Blaq Out (2007-2010).
The Pungent Scent of Immortelles (2019)
Synopsis and Technical Sheets
Notes
[1]UJCML Union of Young Marxist-Leninist Communists

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4535
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