List
Anarchy at the Cinema Motion pictures with history, concepts, or characters related to anarchy, anarchism(s) or produced by anarchists.
Anarchy here refers to the full range of its use including disorder, chaos, rebellion, absence of authority, spontaneous self-organisation, and a free social order without domination.
Anarchism here refers to a specific ideological family found within historical social movements since the mid 1800s that is distinctly revolutionary, socialist and libertarian. The most notable organisation for defining and founding the tradition was the federalist/anti-authoritarian wing of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA).
Entries are arranged from most to least relevant. Dubious and superficial representations are ordered at the bottom. Suggestions for addition and ordering are welcome within the criteria mentioned.
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LEARN MORE
If you are interested in learning more about anarchism, the following reading lists are excellent!
<a href="https://www.redblacknotes.com/reading-list/" rel="nofollow">The Red & Black Notes Reading List</a>
<a href="https://anarchopac.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/recommended-reading/" rel="nofollow">Anarchopac / Zoe Baker Anarchism Reading List</a>
<a href="https://www.redblacknotes.com/reading-list/" rel="nofollow">The libcom.org Anarchist Reading Guide</a>
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GET INVOLVED
If you want to join anarchists working toward a free, social and ecological order, visit the websites of the following organisations:
<a href="https://blackrosefed.org/" rel="nofollow">Black Rose Anarchist Federation</a>
- An federation of organisations practicing organisational dualism within the Anarchist Communist, Platformist and Especifista traditions within the United States.
<a href="https://iww.org" rel="nofollow">Industrial Workers of the World</a>
- A solidarity union within the syndicalist tradition with union sections in North America, Western Europe, Australasia, Turkey and Iceland.
<a href="https://www.symbiosis-revolution.org/" rel="nofollow">Symbiosis Federation</a>
- A federation of radical municipalist organisations within the traditions of social ecology, communalism, communitarianism and synthesism with member organisations in North America and Africa.
<a href="https://ithanarquista.wordpress.com/contemporary-anarchism/" rel="nofollow">Contemporary Anarchism: Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Whole World (1990-2019)</a>
- A comprehensive and global list of organisations, movements and projects that are organised by anarchists or have significant participation and influence from anarchists.
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INCLUSION RATIONALE
Films included in this list go well beyond any broadly defined anarchist tradition. If anarchy or anarchists, related concepts or topics, are referenced or depicted (however dubiously), the film is added.
I include films about John Ball, Gerrard Winstanley, Robert Owen, William Godwin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Max Stirner, William Morris, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Leo Tolstoy and Antonio Gramsci who (among others) had a profound influence on many tendencies of anarchism and libertarian socialism. For the same reasons I also include as many entries as I can related to the traditions of utopian socialism, communitarianism, cooperativism, mutualism, market socialism, left communism, council communism, autonomous marxism, autonomism, libertarian marxism, the Situationist International, the Johnson-Forest Tendency, Zapatismo, and democratic confederalism.
Films have also been included based on the works of Ayan Rand, whom anti-state capitalists (self-styled anarcho-capitalists, but following Ian McKay, I propose 'propertarians' would be more apt) associate with their socio-political theory. Propertarians fall well outside any 'river of anarchy' but the North American confusion on this subject makes it worth including them in an attempt to expose the curious to traditions and movements with liberty at their core. Anarchism (also called libertarianism outside of North America) has, since it's inception, largely and most coherently, been socialist and anti-capitalist.
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ORDERING RATIONALE
Entries are ordered according to how well they represent the history and ideology of anarchism(s) as defined by two different approaches.
The first approach is a global and theoretical-historical approach argued for by Felipe Corrêa in Bandeira Negra: rediscutindo o anarquismo [Black Flag: Rediscussing Anarchism]. According to this view, "Anarchism is a socialist and revolutionary ideology that is founded on specific principles, whose bases are defined by a critique of domination and a defense of self-management; in structural terms, anarchism advocates a social transformation based on strategies which must allow for the substitution of a system of domination by a system of self-management." The work referenced here hasn't been translated into English yet but a summary can be found <a href="https://blackrosefed.org/anarchist-theory-and-history-in-global-perspective/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.
The second approach is based on Michael Freeden's method of analysing the conceptual morphology of an ideology. Benjamin Franks, Nathan Jun and Leonard Williams edited a volume in which this approach is applied to anarchism titled, Anarchism: A Conceptual Approach. Franks, Jun and Williams identify the core concepts of anarchism as anti-hierarchy, prefiguration, freedom, agency, direct action and revolution; adjacent concepts of horizontalism, organization, micropolitics and economy; and peripheral concepts of intersectionality, reform, work, DIY and ecocentrism. The priority and proximity between concepts modify their meaning. This analysis helps distinguish an ideology and its concepts from other ideologies within and outside of an ideological family.
The more a film represents the global, social history of the broad anarchist tradition, or concepts within the ideological family of anarchism(s), the higher a film is ordered.
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Some entries are available at:
<a href="https://unicornriot.ninja/" rel="nofollow">Unicorn Riot</a>
<a href="http://www.globaluprisings.org/" rel="nofollow">Global Uprisings</a>
<a href="http://anarchism.org/" rel="nofollow">Anarchism.org</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Cineanarquista/videos" rel="nofollow">Cine anarquista español. Una mirada al infinito</a>
<a href="https://iaf-fai.org/getintoit/" rel="nofollow">Indigenous Anarchist Federation - Videos</a>
<a href="https://sub.media/" rel="nofollow">Sub.media</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Cineanarquista/videos" rel="nofollow">Cine anarquista español. Una mirada al infinito</a>
<a href="https://means.tv/" rel="nofollow">Means TV</a>
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OTHER LETTERBOXD LISTS
<a href="https://letterboxd.com/tugboatcomplex/list/anarchism-and-cinema/" rel="nofollow">Anarchism and Cinema</a>
- A much more representative film list including references to books about anarchist cinema.
<a href="https://boxd.it/iPxi" rel="nofollow">Anarchist Documentaries</a>
<a href="https://letterboxd.com/ktttttn/list/the-queer-anarchist/" rel="nofollow">The Queer Anarchist</a>
<a href="https://letterboxd.com/itwillbedaisy/list/means-tv/" rel="nofollow">Means TV</a>
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TITLES NOT FOUND ON LETTERBOXD:
FEATURE
Gus and the Anarchists (1915)
Liberación (1937) [Lost]
¡No quiero... no quiero! (1938) [Lost]
DOCUMENTARY
Bajo el signo libertario (1936)
Barcelona trabaja para el frente (1936)
La Batalla de Farlete (1936)
El entierro de Durruti (1936)
Solidaridad del pueblo hacia las víctimas del fascismo (1936)
Madrid tumba del fascio (V) (1936)
La Columna de Hierro (Hacia Teruel) (1937)
La conquista de Carrascal de Chimillas (Frente de Huesca) (1937)
Teruel ha caido (1937)
El General Pozas visita el Frente de Aragón (1937)
La toma de Teruel (1937)
Tres fechas gloriosas (1937)
20 d
1000 films · Updated December 7, 2022
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