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Statues also Die

Original title: Les statues meurent aussi
  • 19531953
  • 30m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Les statues meurent aussi (1953)
  • Documentary
  • Short
A documentary of black art.A documentary of black art.A documentary of black art.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
  • Directors
    • Ghislain Cloquet
    • Chris Marker
    • Alain Resnais
  • Writer
    • Chris Marker
  • Stars
    • Jean Négroni(voice)
    • François Mitterrand(archive footage)
    • Pope Pius XII(archive footage)
Top credits
  • Directors
    • Ghislain Cloquet
    • Chris Marker
    • Alain Resnais
  • Writer
    • Chris Marker
  • Stars
    • Jean Négroni(voice)
    • François Mitterrand(archive footage)
    • Pope Pius XII(archive footage)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
    • 6Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Photos

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    Top cast

    Edit
    Jean Négroni
    • Récitantas Récitant
    • (voice)
    • …
    François Mitterrand
    François Mitterrand
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Pope Pius XII
    Pope Pius XII
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Sugar Ray Robinson
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    • Directors
      • Ghislain Cloquet
      • Chris Marker
      • Alain Resnais
    • Writer
      • Chris Marker
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      After its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, this short subject was withheld from commercial release on the grounds that it was "Anti-Colonial."
    • Quotes

      Récitant: Objects die when living eyes see them no more.

    • Connections
      Edited into La case du siècle: Restituer l'art africain: les fantômes de la colonisation (2020)

    User reviews4

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    The Modern Art Of Rebellion.
    "When men die they become history. Once statues die they become art".

    This film is about magic. The magic of creation enacted through the art of imagination.

    For those engaged in this act become like Gods.

    They show us that all things are connected to everything that have come before it, unlike in white colonial culture, where everything has become disconnected and at odds with one another. A perspective that is wholly unnatural.

    It's also a film about immortality. Posing the question: would man exist at all if not for art?

    They point out that man- like the Gods- can transcend death through the materialization of their double- once a shadow or reflection- into a material form.

    But statues can also die...crumbling to pieces...or being buried in the archives of museums and institutions. Fading away, into nothingness. Like a dead language. Losing their magic through the effect of commercialization and reproduction.

    External incursions have disconnected African people from their past, via the imposition of christian and islamic psychophants, who have taken their place...as their "new" ancestors.

    While their world becomes a mere reproduction of the one that has conquered it.

    And under such circumstances, the only "living art", becomes that of rebellion. It's form fleeting and transitory.

    As all other forms become degraded by the colonizers who consume it, and for whom it is now produced- as either trinkets or spectacle.

    This rebellion, thus, begins to manifest itself in new forms- such as sport, labour activism and music (like jazz)- through which those who have been disconnected from their past, start to push back against the fragile white ego, and culture, that tries to keep them repressed, every time they show signs of new life.

    Marker, Resnais and Choqlain conclude this manifesto, by stating that magic can only be restored to our realms when all the pasts of all the people are given absolute equality. For if art created man as man created art, we are all, today, products of all the great cultures of yesterday.

    The domineering aspect of white supremacy is quite literally...killing us all.

    10 out of 10.
    helpful•2
    0
    • meddlecore
    • Jul 22, 2020

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 30, 2014 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Auch Statuen sterben
    • Filming locations
      • Ouakam, Senegal
    • Production companies
      • Présence Africaine
      • Tadié Cinéma
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      30 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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