Le Monde renversé

Karl Marx could have reconsidered his writing. At least that’s what American militant academic Silvia Federici demonstrates with her founding feminist work Caliban and the Witch. In particular she details how Marx omitted speaking about the major role women played in furnishing the necessary labor force for the accumulation of capital. She also reveals the fact that the medieval witch hunts were not just an historic episode but an organized policy to wrest control of women’s bodies.

Inspired by Silvia Federici’s work, and by tales, essays and testimonials, Clara Bonnet – previously seen in Fabrice Murgia’s short film Remember Me – and Marie-Ange Gagnaux, Itto Mehdaoui, and Aurélia Luscher take hold of the figure of the Witch to show us this body which was controlled, tortured, burnt, searched and confiscated throughout the ages. They praise the modernity of these free women, and denounce the violence inherent in their forced invisibility, thus revealing the patriarchic domination they have always undergone.