All current art is fake. Nothing is original. These are some of the artist statements in artist Julian Rosefeldt's stunning piece Manifesto, the feature film version of his celebrated Armory installation. A chameleonic Cate Blanchett gives a tour-de-force performance as she transcends gender, class, nationality and profession in a series of vignettes which draw upon manifestos questioning the true nature of art, including those from Karl Marx, Yvonne Rainer, and Dogma 95. Rosefeldt takes us through a series of evocative locations seared on the screen with stunning cinematography, whilst Blanchett morphs seamlessly between characters, from a nihilistic punk to a downtrodden homeless man. An art film in every sense of the word, Manifesto ultimately blurs the lines of conventional story, exploring the intention behind artistic expression, and ultimately the importance of storytelling itself.
—Mara Webster
CAST & CREDITS
Directed by Julian Rosefeldt
Julian Rosefeldt is a German film and video artist who lives and works in Berlin. Since 2001, he has held a professorship for Time-based Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Rosefeldt has exhibited extensively in museums and festivals worldwide, and his work is included in renowned international collections.
Director
Julian Rosefeldt
Screenwriter
Julian Rosefeldt
Makeup
Morag Ross
Director of Photography
Christoph Krauss
Editor
Bobby Good
Costume Designer
Bina Daigeler
Sound
David Hilgers, Fabian Schmidt, Markus Stemler, Tschangis Chahrokh