Mechanics’ Cinema: Statues

“Statues”

This screening explores the enduring power of the essay film through Dahomey (Mati Diop, 2024, 68 mins) in dialogue with its influential predecessor, Statues Also Die (Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and Ghislain Cloquet, 1953, 30 mins). We will also present short excerpts from Isaac Julien’s installation Once Again…(Statues Never Die) (2022).

Connected through their examination of looted African artifacts and museum violence, these works span seven decades yet remain in critical conversation.

Dahomey follows the journey of 26 royal treasures returned from France to Benin, using multiple approaches—from documentary record to poetic meditation.

Statues Also Die, banned in France for its anti-colonial stance, questioned why African art was relegated to ethnographic museums rather than celebrated alongside European masterpieces. Julien’s installation extends this inquiry by examining relationships between cultural critics, collectors, and the artworks themselves.

Our discussion centres on whether the essay film remains a vital form for our current political and aesthetic moment. We consider how the essay film embodies contradiction as “the main category for the analysis of social life,” using fragmentation, provisionality, and the tension between presentation and representation to resist totalising arguments. Do these formal strategies still offer pathways to engage with our past and present?

This screening invites reflection on how cinema becomes a site of resistance and reimagination, opening gaps that make visible the practices shaping our encounter with history, memory, and material culture.

About Mechanics’ Cinema

Mechanics’ Cinema is presented by a chorus of filmmakers and thinkers of cinema, reflecting together on the enduring significance of the art form, on cinema’s historical and contemporary conditions, and on a series of remarkable films.

Each film in the program has been selected by a different member of the collective, who will present for 10 minutes prior to the screening.

The night ends in casual and lively conversation between presenters, attendees, and guest interlocutors.

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Details:

📅 Friday 6 June
🕰 6.30 PM
📍 Henry Carmichael Theatre, SMSA on Level One
🎟 Free for SMSA members

A Quick Note on Attendance

This free event is just for SMSA members- that’s how we stay on the right side of our licensing and venue requirements. We are offering First Timer tickets for those wanting to try before you buy.

Joining is easy and great value, with memberships starting at just $35 a year for concession card holders and students.

As a member, you’ll have access to all film screenings at SMSA, plus a year-round program of author talks, workshops and more. Find out more HERE