The Zidane Film

Abstract

Post-cinema in the post-art era can also arise from the collaboration of two artists, as in the case of Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006), a film by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno: 17 cameras placed around the Bernabéu stadium in Madrid where a match is taking place follow the well-known football player, Zinédine Zidane, from the beginning of the game until his dismissal. Richard Conte examines this special portrait, paying particular attention to how the film focuses primarily on Zidane and on details that could only be captured by the artistic filmic device. This in-depth analysis of such an approach and its astonishing filmic result also concern a social aspect of post-cinema that deserves to be highlighted: here, “the elitist contemporary art meets the most popular sport of the world and one of its most emblematic figures.”