"I wanted to undo the figure of the ecoterrorist": this Bordeaux resident made a documentary on the Earth Uprisings

With "Soulèvements," director Thomas Lacoste offers sensitive portraits of 16 environmental activists from the Earth Uprisings. As part of its preview screening at the Utopia cinema in Bordeaux this Monday, August 25, he looks back at the genesis of this documentary.

Two years after the threat of dissolution of the Earth Uprisings collective , Bordeaux-based director Thomas Lacoste offers a "dive" into this civil disobedience movement, which aims to "protect the commons." Also an essayist, editor and producer, he had already made a feature film on Basque independence three years ago: "The Democratic Hypothesis - A Basque History."

With this new documentary, he offers a gallery of portraits: 16 activists from the Earth Uprisings are filmed with their hesitations, their emotions, and their debates. And above all, with the "shared" territories to which they hold so dear: ecosystems of fauna and flora threatened by industrial or transport projects, by "megabasins" like in Sainte-Soline, or an airport like in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, the birthplace of this environmental collective in 2021. Across France, we see the links being forged between these activists, a tiny fraction of the 200,000 people who claimed to be part of the movement in 2023. To counter certain prejudices of "ecoterrorism," the director hopes that the "greatest number" of people will in turn be able to "meet," through cinema, these Earth insurgents.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​making a documentary about the Earth Uprisings?

The idea was born in the spring of 2023, at a time when the Earth Uprisings were experiencing a fairly massive wave of repression. First, with a major police crackdown on the Sainte-Soline 2 demonstration in March, with 5,000 grenades thrown in less than two hours, according to the Human Rights League. Then, with a wave of arrests by the Anti-Terrorism Sub-Directorate in June. And then, in August, the request for the dissolution of this movement by the Ministry of the Interior [overturned by the Council of State in November, Editor's note].

At the time, I was already following this movement closely, like all political structures supported by young people. But then, a question appeared to me: how can a society criminalize those who try to defend "common territories" and escape the destruction of our ecosystems? One thing led to another and the idea of ​​a film emerged, with this desire to undo this figure of the ecoterrorist, to reveal the faces and landscapes that animate this movement.

A father who questions his past choices, a former mayor who engages in civil disobedience, a breeder retraining or a young naturalist passionate about birdsong... Why did you choose these testimonies?

This is really what jumped out at me when I came into contact with the Uprisings: intergenerational cohabitation. There were at least three generations, with a real sociocultural richness, present at their rallies. The members of the Uprisings come from the younger generations fighting for the climate, farmers working to defend sustainable and sustainable agriculture, people who are involved in the ZADs (Zolidades Agronomiques), or local residents who defend their territory against harmful projects. With this film, I attempted to dive into an unseen and unheard human geography. I wanted to give a sense of what is being invented with these young people who are carrying a transgenerational movement.

Why do you focus the documentary more on the personal stories of the activists than on the history of the movement and its police repression?

I think the state's ability to repress these social movements is clearly visible in our news channels and deeply rooted in our collective imaginations. Today, sociologists and geographers are also researching the Uprisings. But I wanted to stay very far from any didacticism. On the contrary, I found it interesting to develop the film around these unique words, to see their thoughts unfold. It comes through the activists' hesitations, perhaps through their doubts, and clearly, through sensitivity. These moments also demonstrate the trust that binds the characters and the film. For me, the interest of cinema is to bet on human encounters.