BLACK VENUS
synopsis
Paris, 1817: inside the Royal Academy of Medicine. “I have never seen a human head more similar to that of an ape’s.” Standing in front of a cast made of Saartjie Baartman’s body, anatomist Georges Cuvier is categorical. A group of his distinguished colleagues cheers. Seven years earlier, Saartjie had left South Africa with her master Caezar and abandoned her body to the audiences of London’s freak shows. Both free and a slave, she was the icon of the slums, the “Hottentot Venus” who was sacrificed to the mirage of golden success.
international title: | Black Venus |
original title: | Vénus noire |
country: | France |
sales agent: | mk2 films |
year: | 2010 |
genre: | fiction |
directed by: | Abdellatif Kechiche |
film run: | 166' |
release date: | FR 27/10/2010, BE 03/11/2010, NL 06/01/2011, IT 17/06/2011 |
screenplay: | Abdellatif Kechiche |
cast: | Yahima Torres, Olivier Gourmet, André Jacobs, Jonathan Pienaar, Olivier Loustau, Eric Moreau, Diane Stewart, Ralph Amoussou, Elina Löwensohn |
cinematography by: | Lubomir Bakchev |
film editing: | Camille Toubkis, Ghalya Lacroix, Laurent Roüan, Albertine Lastera |
art director: | Florian Sanson |
costumes designer: | Fabio Perrone |
producer: | Charles Gillibert, Marin Karmitz, Nathanaël Karmitz |
production: | mk2 films, France 3 Cinéma |
distributor: | MK2 Distribution, Lucky Red, Imagine, September Film Distribution Netherlands |