MANIFESTO
From the acclaimed visual artist Julian Rosefeldt, ‘Manifesto’ features Cate Blanchett in 13 vignettes incorporating timeless manifestos from 20th-century art movements.
This 2015 Australian-German film is adapted from a multi-screen film installation written, produced and directed by Rosefeldt. It draws on the writings of Futurists, Dadaists, Fluxus artists, Suprematists, Situtationists, Dogma 95 and other groups, as well as the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers, ultimately questioning the role of the artist in society today.
Performing these 'new manifestos' while inhabiting 13 different personas - among them a schoolteacher, a puppeteer, a newsreader, a factory worker and a homeless man - Cate Blanchett imbues new dramatic life into these famous words in unexpected contexts. Audiences needn’t be intimidated: ‘Manifesto’ may not adhere to any conventional narrative structure, but it’s compulsively watchable all the same. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the movements in the film, ‘Manifesto’ is still a brilliant display of Blanchett’s unstoppable talent and Rosefeldt’s ability to use one art form – filmmaking – to explore so many others.