Francis Alÿs Movies

  • 2017
    Children’s Game #18: Knucklebones

    Children’s Game #18: Knucklebones

    Children’s Game #18: Knucklebones

    02017HD

    Knucklebones, or jacks, has existed for more than 2000 years and was first played with the astralagus bones of a sheep. This version –played...

    Children’s Game #18: Knucklebones
  • 2017
    Children’s Game #19: Haram Football

    Children’s Game #19: Haram Football

    Children’s Game #19: Haram Football

    02017HD

    In August 2017, during the final phase of the Fatah (Conquest) Operation, the Iraqi Army pushed Islamic State combatants back from the east bank of...

    Children’s Game #19: Haram Football
  • 2011
    Children’s Game #11: Wolf and Lamb

    Children’s Game #11: Wolf and Lamb

    Children’s Game #11: Wolf and Lamb

    02011HD

    A group of children hold hands in a circle. The child in the middle plays the lamb, the one outside is the wolf. The wolf tries to catch the lamb by...

    Children’s Game #11: Wolf and Lamb
  • 2008
    Bolero (Shoe Shine Blues), 1996-2007

    Bolero (Shoe Shine Blues), 1996-2007

    Bolero (Shoe Shine Blues), 1996-2007

    02008HD

    A traditional animation, hand-drawn in 500+ frames (which are also on display as part of the installation). The animation consists solely of a shoe...

    Bolero (Shoe Shine Blues), 1996-2007
  • 1997
    Patriotic Tales

    Patriotic Tales

    Patriotic Tales

    01997HD

    The video shows the artist walking in circles around the flagpole (“Madre Patria”) in Zócalo, Mexico City’s monumental...

    Patriotic Tales
  • 2017
    Untitled

    Untitled

    Untitled

    02017HD

    Presented at the Iraqi Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.

    Untitled
  • 2011
    Children’s Game #9: Saltamontes

    Children’s Game #9: Saltamontes

    Children’s Game #9: Saltamontes

    02011HD

    Girls and boys, together for once, hunt through lush grass and undergrowth, on the lookout for well-camouflaged grasshoppers. When one is found its...

    Children’s Game #9: Saltamontes
  • 2008
    Children’s Game #4: Elastic

    Children’s Game #4: Elastic

    Children’s Game #4: Elastic

    02008HD

    Close-up on shiny boots, knotted elastic, cobbles. Within the confines of a courtyard two demure little girls are playing a game of confinement,...

    Children’s Game #4: Elastic
  • 2011
    Watercolor

    Watercolor

    Watercolor

    02011HD

    "Mixing water from the Red Sea with water from the Black Sea". Trabzon, Turkey-Aqaba, Jordan, 2010.

    Watercolor
  • 2011
    Children’s Game #10: Papalote

    Children’s Game #10: Papalote

    Children’s Game #10: Papalote

    02011HD

    A 10-year-old boy in a pink salwar kameez stands near a dune-coloured wall under a powder-blue sky. He frowns and gesticulates, conversing in stops...

    Children’s Game #10: Papalote
  • 2008
    Children’s Game #3: Coins

    Children’s Game #3: Coins

    Children’s Game #3: Coins

    02008HD

    We see three kids from behind, standing at a set distance from a peeling, whitewashed wall. The rule is that each player throws a coin against the...

    Children’s Game #3: Coins
  • 2007
    Children’s Game #2: Ricochets

    Children’s Game #2: Ricochets

    Children’s Game #2: Ricochets

    02007HD

    The bay is peaceful, framed by low hills in the distance. Three boys stand thigh-deep in the brown water, trousers rolled up. The biggest, on the...

    Children’s Game #2: Ricochets
  • 1970
    Set Theory

    Set Theory

    Set Theory

    01970HD

    Francis Alÿs has his own drawing painted by several different semi-professional painters.

    Set Theory
  • 1970
    Prohibited Steps

    Prohibited Steps

    Prohibited Steps

    01970HD

    Lamma Island, Hong Kong, 2020.

    Prohibited Steps
  • 1999
    Children's Game #1: Caracoles

    Children's Game #1: Caracoles

    Children's Game #1: Caracoles

    01999HD

    High above the city that shimmers like a distant sea, a boy kicks a plastic bottle half full of liquid up a steep shanty road of light and dark. A...

    Children's Game #1: Caracoles
  • 2004
    The Green Line

    The Green Line

    The Green Line

    02004HD

    In The Green Line, for which the axiom was ‘sometimes the political is poetic, sometimes the poetic is political’, Alÿs walks...

    The Green Line
  • 2005
    Politics of Rehearsal

    Politics of Rehearsal

    Politics of Rehearsal

    02005HD

    Politics of Rehearsal (2005) Focuses on the theme of rehearsal, which is so characteristic of Belgian-born, Mexico City-based Francis...

    Politics of Rehearsal
  • 2005
    Looking Up

    Looking Up

    Looking Up

    02005HD

    2005, 00:03:07

    Looking Up
  • 1998
    Cantos Patrioticus 2 - studio

    Cantos Patrioticus 2 - studio

    Cantos Patrioticus 2 - studio

    01998HD

    1998, 00:27:42

    Cantos Patrioticus 2 - studio
  • 1998
    Cantos Patrioticus 1 - street

    Cantos Patrioticus 1 - street

    Cantos Patrioticus 1 - street

    01998HD

    1998, 00:27:43

    Cantos Patrioticus 1 - street