A-Infos (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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