Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels (2018)

• 76%
• 2018
• Documentary
• Phil Collins
• Phil Collins
• Maxine Peake
• Gruff Rhys

What is the relationship between Manchester in 2018 and the Russian Revolution of 1917? The German philosopher Friedrich Engels, who wrote the Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx, lived for years in this British industrial city. Through this founder of communist theory, artist Phil Collins investigates what remains of his ideas in today's United Kingdom. How would Engels view the world today? And has anything changed for 'the working poor'? Collins not only brings Engels back to Manchester metaphorically, but also literally. We follow the journey that a statue of the philosopher makes from a Ukrainian village through Europe and back 'home'. With his visually layered Ceremony, a combination of documentary road movie and social-activist pamphlet, Collins proposes a renewed link between Manchester and the idea of communism as a radical and visionary alternative for the 'tyranny of capital' that still has a grip on our political, economic and emotional life.