Statues Also Die (1953)

6.9/10 30 min Documentary

Overview

Commissioned by the journal Présence Africaine, this short documentary examines how African art is devalued and alienated through colonial and museum contexts. Beginning with the question of why African works are confined to ethnographic displays while Greek or Egyptian art is celebrated, the film became a landmark of anti-colonial cinema and was banned in France for eight years.

Cast

Jean Négroni

Narrator (voice)

François Mitterrand

Self (archive footage)

Pope Pius XII

Self (archive footage)

Sugar Ray Robinson

Self (archive footage)

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