This nth economic crisis reveals yet again the chasm between two worlds: on one side, a financial oligarchy, supported by right- and left-wing governments, triumphant in times of prosperity and sorrowful when threatened by bankruptcy ; on the other side, the huge majority of those who do not share the same privileges, used to paying for everything in order to guarantee the profits and endure the losses of the financial system.
How can we grapple with the multiple questions raised by the onset of such a crisis? The way these issues are usually presented is off-putting and abstract. To start with, the price of the Dow Jones, subprimes and credit derivatives are not alluring subjects. In practice, to decry such disembodied entities as “the market” or “finance” offers no real grip on the matter. The political practices which question dominant beliefs about economy need to change their angle of attack, in order to show clearly in what ways this oligarchy continually ensures its richness and privileges. What is its relationship with politics? Through which channels and how do the billions involved in financial matters circulate? What are the implications of these mechanisms for our daily lives?
In this respect, cinema can play an essential part. The stories of Dexia, Enron or Lehman Brothers, Margaret Thatcher’s doings, the Spanish real estate bubble can be told as political-economic sagas, where money, power and cynicism go hand in hand. At the other end, the many documentaries which are being made presently throughout Europe give a concrete picture of the social issues at stake in such a crisis.
A programme organised together with Dites 33!, Le P’tit Ciné and the Réseau Financement Alternatif (Financité).