Program

Master in Focus: Chantal Akerman

A defiant and uncompromising artist, Chantal AKERMAN traces her path freely, exploding narrative and geographical boundaries to wander between genres and styles, tackling fiction, documentary, musical, comedy and literary adaptation. Her filmography numbers some fifty films and has been widely shown throughout the world. Considered one of the most influential European directors of her generation, and one of the boldest cinematic visionaries of the past half century, she continued to expand the boundaries of cinematic language, taking a profoundly personal, aesthetically radical approach to the form as a way to investigate space and time, geography and identity, sexuality and desires, alienation and diaspora. Alongside her films, Chantal Akerman has closely blended film and video, producing installations from 1995 onwards, exhibited in major art institutions. A close friend of the written word, she is also the author of several books. She passed away in 2015, leaving behind monumental landmarks that have pointed the way for generations of artists, and exerted an incalculable influence on the evolution of feminist and avant-garde cinema and beyond. As Chantal Akerman’s lifelong work has undergone extensive digitization and restoration recently, this year’s “Master in Focus” program highlights some of her most groundbreaking and overlooked works. The program includes eight fiction, documentary, and experimental films by AKERMAN, along with video letters tributed by other artists. Marking a decade since AKERMAN’s passing, this program not only revisits her distinctive style and innovative visual language, but also seeks to introduce the rich diversity of her oeuvre to audiences. This program was made possible with the help of Chantal Akerman Foundation and Royal Film Archive of Belgium (CINEMATEK).
Le jour où…

Switzerland|1997|DCP|color|8min

Les Rendez-vous d'Anna

Belgium, France, Germany|1978|DCP|color|128min

Toute une nuit

Belgium, France|1982|DCP|color|91min

J'ai faim, j'ai froid

France|1984|DCP|b/w|14min

La Captive

Belgium, France|2000|DCP|color|118min

La Folie Almayer

Belgium, France|2011|DCP|color|127min

Là-bas

Belgium, France|2006|DCP|color|79min