Statues Also Die () is a 1953 French essay film directed by Alain Resnais, Chris Marker, and Ghislain Cloquet about historical African art and the effects colonialism has had on how it is perceived. The film won the 1954 Prix Jean Vigo. Because of its criticism of colonialism, the second half of the film was banned in France until the 1960s. Synopsis The film exhibits a series of sculptures, masks and other traditional art from Sub-Saharan Africa. The images are frequently set to music and cut to the music's pace. The narrator focuses on the emotional qualities of the objects, and discusses the perception of these works of art, craft, and utility from a historical and contemporary European perspective. Only occasionally does the film provide the geographical origin, time period, or other contextual information about the objects. The idea of a dead statue is explained as a statue which has lost its original significance and become reduced to a museum object, similarly to a dead person who can only be found in history books. Interwoven with the objects are a few scenes of Africans performing traditional music and dances, as well as the death of a disemboweled gorilla. During the last third of the film, the modern commercialisation of African culture is problematised. The film argues that colonial presence has compelled African art to lose much of its idiosyncratic expression, in order to appeal to Western consumers. A mention is made of how African currencies previously had been replaced by European. In the final segment, the film comments on the position of black Africans themselves in contemporary Europe and North America. Footage is seen from a Harlem Globetrotters basketball show, of the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, and a jazz drummer intercut with scenes from a confrontation between police and labour demonstrators. Lastly the narrator argues that we should regard African and European art history as one inseparable human culture. Analysis In her 2006 book Chris Marker, film studies professor Nora M. Alter connects the ambition of the film to Chris Marker's tendency to promote upcoming or obscure artists, in attempts to avoid that their works are overlooked or forgotten. She notes how the objects in Statues Also Die are shown almost as if they were alive: "Marker's camera treats all subjects in front of its lens without differentiating between humans, statues, animals, landscapes, architecture, or signs. The magic of cinema