Sud (Chantal Akerman, 1999)
South
,
Part of 
Deel van 
Partie de 
Sud (Chantal Akerman, 1999)
Language
Taal
Langue
English
Subtitles
Ondertitels
Sous-titres
French
Only available in
Enkel beschikbaar in
Disponible uniquement en
Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Duration
Duur
Durée
71'

An eclectic and edgy journey through the South of the United States after a Black man named James Byrd Jr. was gruesomely murdered by three white men. This is neither an anatomy of his murder nor the autopsy of James Byrd Jr., whose presence haunts the entire film, but rather an evocation of how this event fits into a landscape and climate both mentally and physically. Akermans lingering gaze unsettles the seemingly ordinary scenery, revealing the violent history that hides in the silence of the South.

“How does the southern silence become so heavy and so menacing so suddenly? How do the trees and the whole natural environment evoke so intensely death, blood and the weight of history? How does the present call up the past? And how does this past, with a mere gesture or a simple regard, haunt and torment you as you wander along an empty cotton field, or a dusty country road?”

Chantal Akerman

Sud is not simply a film about the lynching and enslavement of black people in the United States. It’s about the violence of the world and the way history haunts landscapes to become a part of our gaze. By going beyond the categories of good and evil and allowing a space of dignity for each character, including those who speak the most horrible things, the film shakes us directly, questioning our own way of looking at the other and the whole of humanity.”

Claire Atherton

“Ultimately, invisibility becomes the most powerful strategy in a film that, from the outset, sets up a tension between what is and what isn't shown or said and which actively implicates the spectator in its summoning of the dead.”

Marion Schmid

Language
Taal
Langue
English
Subtitles
Ondertitels
Sous-titres
French
Only available in
Enkel beschikbaar in
Disponible uniquement en
Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Duration
Duur
Durée
71'
A Film by
Een film van
Un film de
Image
Beeld
Image
Raymond Fromont
Sound
Geluid
Son
Thierry de Halleux
Editing
Montage
Montage
Claire Atherton
Production
Productie
Production
AMIP, Paradise Films
Co-production
Coproductie
Coproduction
CHEMAH I.S., La Sept ARTE, Carré Noir - RTBF Liège, INA, YLE
With the Support of
Met de steun van
Avec le soutien de
Dia Center for the Arts (New York), Soros Documentary Fund, Centre national de la Cinématographie, PROCIREP, Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique et l’aide des télédistributeurs wallons