High above the waters of the Lac d’Aiguille in southeastern France, hundreds of drones formed the face of Maximilien Robespierre, the Jacobin deputy to the National Convention during the French Revolution. Then they shifted into a new form, as the face of Louise Michel, a key figure in the Paris Commune of 1871. The drones then split up again, only to regroup as the face of Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso. The music playing from the lakeside speakers sped up, and two drones dropped a banner, onto which was projected video from an accelerating series of rallies and speeches by France Insoumise (FI) and its presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Finally, as the thumping orchestral music, intercut with segments of the Marseillaise and the Internationale, reached its crescendo, the drones formed the French flag and the words “Victory in 2027” before scattering into the darkness.

The show illustrated what the ten thousand people gathered in Valence for France Insoumise’s summer university, known as Amfis, hoped to achieve: winning the 2027 election, conquering state power, and adding their movement to a historical canon alongside past revolutionaries and communards.

Taking place over four days from August 20–23, eight months out from the presidential election, this year’s Amfis was the largest it has ever been. Activists came from all over France to participate in talks ranging from sociological analyses of new arrivals in the French countryside, to interviews with the drag queens from the hit French iteration of Drag Race.