Julian Rosefeldt's Manifesto Film Adaptation Premieres at London Film Festival

Julian Rosefeldt's multiscreen installation Manifesto, originally presented at Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image in 2016, has been transformed into a 95-minute feature film. The work features Cate Blanchett performing 50 artistic manifestos across 13 distinct roles, ranging from a homeless man to a television anchorwoman. Manifesto draws texts from across a century of cultural history, including Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's 1909 Futurist manifesto and Jim Jarmusch's 2002 filmmaking rules. The film premiered at the London Film Festival on October 6, 2017, following previous installations at venues like Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof and New York's Park Avenue Armory. Blanchett delivers manifestos from movements including Surrealism, Situationism, Conceptual Art, and Fluxus, with authors represented ranging from André Breton to Sol LeWitt. The production was shot in just 11 days, creating a workshop-like environment on set according to the director. While only four of the original manifestos were written by women—Yvonne Rainer, Mierle Laderman, Adrian Piper, and Sturtevant—most are delivered by female characters in the film. The work creates unexpected connections between disparate artistic movements through Blanchett's transformative performances, emphasizing the formal qualities of manifesto writing over specific content.