René Viénet, for this “autobiography” of mythical Mao, immersed himself in rare archives of the “Red Guard” during the “Cultural Revolution” and used exclusively excerpts from Mao’s speeches and writings in the film’s commentary. Shortly after Mao died, on 9 September 1976, the film was completed and was shown on French television and at the Cannes Film Festival in 1977.
René Viénet
René Viénet (1944, France), a sinologist, situationist, writer, filmmaker and Maoist critic, is famous for the film “Can Dialectics Break Bricks?” (1973), made with the situationist technique of “détournement”. Viénet was also the series editor of “Bibliothèque asiatique” with more than fifty works published by a variety of houses. Against the Catholic Maoists, then in control of Asian Studies in France, he published controversial books and made the innovative documentary “Peking Duck Soup” (1977). Besides his business achievements in the medical field of contraception, he founded “Editions René Viénet" in 2003. From 2015, he collaborates with “Cinémathèque Française” on the restoration of his films and in showcasing films from China.
