“One of the finest filmmakers working anywhere.”
-Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Chantal Akerman, born in Belgium in 1950, established herself as the grande dame of feminist filmmaking at the young age of twenty-five with her groundbreaking first feature Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). That film confirmed that strong emotional content is made stronger by the distance we are allowed from it. Over the decades Akerman has continued to expand the notion of cinema beyond the limitations of traditional narrative form, exciting viewers (and baffling some critics) by refusing to claim a side-narrative versus nonnarrative, experimental versus commercial, feminist versus humanist-rather, claiming all sides, like a cubist perspective projected over time. Once the “mistress of minimalism,” she has worked with playful, dizzying narrative structures, updated women's melodramas, Demy-like musicals, and experimental documentaries, all informed by her extraordinarily polished technique, rich visual palette, and sly humor. This month we present a small selection of Akerman's work, films linked by their concern with storytelling, actors and director alike exploring the gestures and postures of communication.
Judy Bloch