Statues Also Die (1953)
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)Recommendations
Dahomey
I Am Not Your Negro
Fuck
Looking for Richard
McQueen
Naqoyqatsi
All the World's Memory
Come See Me in the Good Light
13th
You Cannot Kill David Arquette
Being James Bond
JLG/JLG: Self-Portrait in December
The Irishman: In Conversation
Human
African Cats
Biggie & Tupac
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
Night Will Fall
God Grew Tired of Us
In the Realms of the Unreal