Born in Flames is an exhilarating film, a political breviary for feminists in times of backlash. An unclassifiable blend of agit-prop and socialist uchronia, the film takes us into the streets of New York City, ten years after the establishment of a socialist regime in the United States. While the revolution’s egalitarian promises are still championed by those in power and echoed by the dominant media (well, well…), women—and especially Black women—know full well that this is not what they are experiencing. At the call of the Women’s Army, various groups come together and attempt to organize, making ongoing oppressions visible and rallying their sisters to the struggle. The film recalls the fierce, disenchanted energy of post-’68 films by Jean-Luc Godard, while remaining firmly rooted in political action, insurrection, and the protagonists’ determination to bring about change.

The hypocrisy of white feminism, the persistence of racial and gender oppression within progressive movements, the diversity of tactics and positions within revolutionary struggles… Born in Flames confronts head-on the central fault lines that shape progressive politics, at a moment when a new backlash is bearing down on us. Returning to this film today feels salutary, insofar as it unflinchingly reveals the contradictions, tensions, and fractures that run through our sororities, while urging us not to yield to intimidation. More than forty years on, we are in dire need of the raw energy and political and formal inventiveness delivered by Lizzie Borden and her remarkable collective.

Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk's Artistic Director