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Django is not very fast or efficient for serving static files. To quote the Django docs, “This method is grossly inefficient and probably insecure, so it is unsuitable for production.” It is better to use tools that are specifically designed for serving static content. There are extensive instructions for how to setup a static server in the Django documentation on deploying static files.
The basic idea is to not unnecessarily involve Django in the serving of static files. Let your production server, which from your comment it sounds like is apache, serve the static files directly. Here are instructions for editing your httpd.conf file to get apache to serve the static files https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/howto/deployment/wsgi/modwsgi/#serving-files. The static() function in django should not be involved at all. Make sure to use the collectstatic management command in django to copy all your static files to the STATIC_ROOT so apache can find them.