Chantal Akerman

Chantal Akerman (Belgium, 1950 - France, 2015) was a Belgian film director, screenwriter, producer, artist and writer born in Brussels. Her debut as a director, at the age of 18, was Saute ma ville (1968). She directed over 40 films, including Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) as well as the documentaries D’Est (1993), Sud (1999), and De lʼautre côté (2002).

The final film from Chantal Akerman is a portrait of her relationship with her mother, Natalia, a Holocaust survivor and familiar presence in many of her daughter’s films.

A penetrating documentary about the struggles, hopes and miseries of Mexican migrants trying to illegally cross the border to America who are constantly hounded by immigration authorities as they try to escape their country's difficulties.

A journey through the South of the United States after a Black man was brutally murdered by three white men results in a penetrating meditation on memory, history, landscape, trauma and rebellion.

A cinematographic voyage from the end of summer to the depths of winter, from East Germany to Moscow. Minimalist actions carry the general plot of the film, one of people travelling and fleeing within a country which no longer seems to exist.

In a shopping arcade, the paths of customers and shop girls cross on a daily basis. They all dream of love, or sing and dance to the rhythm of a choir of shampoo girls. A musical drama made up of intricate amorous entanglements.

In this ensemble film, men, women and children, overcome by their desires, indulge in the excess of their feelings during a hot, stormy summer evening in the city.

Anna, a Belgian filmmaker, travels through northwestern Europe to promote her latest film. Her temporary stops and fleeting encounters paint a portrait of a young woman.

Jeanne Dielman, a young widow living with her son Sylvain, follows an immutable day cycle. Soon, however, an unexpected incident disrupts her safe routine.

Panning shots describe the space of a room as a succession of still lifes, after which the filmmaker herself appears in the picture, sitting in bed.

A young woman mops the floor of her kitchen, polishes her shoes, dances, cooks, tapes the door shut and gives an explosive twist to her usual household routine.

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