Les statues meurent aussi (Statues also die)

Part of the film series SkulpturRaum_Film

F 1953, bw, 30 min. OV with English subtitles

D: Alain Resnais, Chris Marker

Introduction: Daniel Müller Hofstede

Although this essay film by Nouvelle Vague director Alain Resnais and Parisian auteur filmmaker Chris Marker was made over 70 years ago, its themes of looted art, restitution and the role of museums are highly topical.

The following statement is made at the beginning of this engaging film: "When people die, they go down in history. When statues die, they become art." With this perspective, the film takes a look at the after-effects of colonialism on the European perception of African history and culture. It highlights the commercialization and profanation of traditional masks and statues from sub-Saharan Africa by the West as well as the exploitation of African labour and services in the fields of industry, sport, music and dance.

Due to its political acuity and uncompromising nature, it was censored for years by France, which was fighting in the Indochina War at the time and was also confronted with independence movements in Algeria, and could only be broadcast in full for the first time in 1968.

FilmGallery for the special exhibition "Performance People. An exhibition from the Skulptur Projekte Archive"