Natacha Nisic, Rather Die than Die

Natacha Nisic retraces the First World War through two overlapping perspectives, two civilisations, but also two intimate experiences of time and pain. The first is that of Native Americans, and specifically the Hopis who enlisted and fought on the battlefields of Picardy and the Somme in 1917 and 1918. The second is an archaeology of day-to-day suffering, documented in clinical records on the German art historian Aby Warburg, heir to a Jewish banking family who surrendered his birthright in exchange for all the books he desired. Through the long months of the war, Warburg accumulated thousands of images and texts in an attempt to understand the ideological foundation of this bloody conflict. It would cost him his mental health.

An accompanying booklet features texts by Natacha Nisic and Annette Becker, an historian and scholar of war-related violence.

This film was commissioned by Cnap as part of commemorations for the centennial of the First World War and has entered the national collection.

Film: Plutôt mourir que mourir / Rather Die than Die (2018)
Direction, photography, montage: Natacha Nisic
Music: Philippe Langlois
Sound: Nicolas Waschkowski
Production: Seconde Vague Productions, in association with Arte - La Lucarne
66 minutes / French and English / DVD5 PAL / Multizone / 16/9
Booklet: 40 pages / 12 x 18 cm / French and English
Release: January 2018
Price: 20 euros