Venus Noire by Abdel Kechiche, Venice Film Festival 2010

By Fiona | Sep 10, 2010 | Venice Film Festival (0) Comment

As you already guess, we’re here to continue with the movies that In Competition for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.

Venus Noire, or if you prefer Black Venus is an upcoming French drama directed by Abdel Kechiche, and we’re here to introduce you to the movie based on the life of Sarah Baartman, a Khoikhoi girl who in the early 19th century was exhibited in Europe under the name “Hottentot Venus.”

Check out the Venus Noire 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.”

Venus Noire stars Elina Lowensohn, Yahima Torres, Olivier Gourmet, Jonothan Pienaar, Jean-Christophe Bouvet and Andre Jacobs.