Transported by imagination, kids turn chairs on a dusty patch into a joyful game
One in a series of short films on children’s games by the Belgian artist Francis Alÿs, Sillas (Musical Chairs) is a beguilingly simple and charming look at Mexican children at play. Shot from above in a single take, with the tension building as the chairs disappear each time the music stops playing, the film prompts us to look at the children’s game not only as a bit of fun, but also as a metaphor of sorts: who will win? What is won when you are the last one left?
Director: Francis Alÿs
videoChildhood and adolescence
A neglected Dominican sugar town, as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old local
11 minutes
videoAgeing and death
Memories of friends and neighbours light the streets of a seaside village in England
11 minutes
videoChildhood and adolescence
‘Do worms cry?’ – and other questions collected from the mind of a curious child
4 minutes
videoSports and games
Young Palestinians find fleeting moments of freedom at a West Bank skate park
13 minutes
videoWar and peace
Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines
22 minutes
videoTechnology and the self
The commodified childhood – scenes from two sisters’ lives in the creator economy
14 minutes
videoAnthropology
For an Amazonian female shaman, ayahuasca ceremonies are a rite and a business
30 minutes
videoSports and games
Havana’s streets become racetracks in this exhilarating portrait of children at play
5 minutes
videoChildhood and adolescence
The police camp where tween girls enter a sisterhood of law and order
28 minutes