Renoir the painter once told his son the director about the Paris Commune: “They were insane, but they had that little flame that never goes out.” Ken McMullen’s 1871 stages those extraordinary two months not as madness but as theater, a pageant that suspended capitalist existence. Med Hondo plays Karl Marx, whispering omens to the disgraced emperor; an actress sings “The Internationale” while government troops assemble in their seats. “They’re just a bunch of stupid fucking actors,” Timothy Spall’s amoral fop protests. “They get overexcited when they dress up.” History gets made at the prop department.

The Freelance Solidarity Project was founded in 2018 by digital media workers. Now a division of the National Writers Union, it campaigns alongside editorial staff and street vendors alike to raise wages for all. Following the first screening of 1871, writer Chris Randle, a member of FSP’s steering committee, will discuss Hollywood labor strikes with Writers Guild of America member Sara David.