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Chantal Akerman: Adventures in Perception
Until Sun 30 March
Although best known for her landmark second feature, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), which topped the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time Poll in 2022 (becoming the first female-directed film to take the number one spot since the poll’s inception in 1952), Chantal Akerman never stopped rebelling, continuously experimenting throughout her career to challenge the formal and narrative boundaries of film.
Born in Brussels in 1950 and the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Akerman directed more than 40 films (short, medium, and feature-length) in almost 50 years, spanning fiction, documentary, musical comedy and literary adaptation. Today she is regarded as one of the most important and influential directors of her generation.
Akerman’s personal, non-conformist body of work has become increasingly relevant since her death in 2015, resonating with film lovers globally as well as filmmakers including Joanna Hogg, Payal Kapadia, Céline Sciamma, Sean Baker, Alice Diop and Charlotte Wells, who all have cited her radical and experimental approach to filmmaking as a direct inspiration.
Throughout February and March, we’ll be celebrating the director's extraordinary impact on contemporary cinema with an extensive season of her works, from the early 70s through to her final feature No Home Movie (2015).
Also don’t miss our Chantal Akerman: A Primer event, where Isabel Stevens (Managing Editor of Sight & Sound and the curator of the BFI’s Akerman retrospective) will be here to provide a whistle-stop tour of Akerman’s preoccupations, influence and brilliance to give an introduction to the exciting season ahead.
With thanks to the BFI, Sight & Sound and the Fondation Chantal Akerman.
Upcoming screenings & events in this season
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
classified 15 S Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman’s slow-burning masterpiece was voted as the Greatest Film of All Time in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll.
Les Rendez-vous d'Anna
classified 15 S Chantal Akerman
A quasi self-portrait that was unfairly neglected on its release, this road movie is a profound musing on loneliness, displacement and the long shadow of the war.
Toute une nuit
classified 18 (CTBA) S Chantal Akerman
A gloriously romantic city symphony set over one hot summer’s night.
Golden Eighties
classified 15 S Chantal Akerman
Song, dance and romance charge this joyous hair-salon set musical - but Chantal Akerman’s take on 80s consumerism is anything but frothy.
Portrait of a Young Girl from the Late Sixties in Brussels
classified 18 (CTBA) S Chantal Akerman
A semi-autobiographical ode to the melancholy of adolescence, that follows college students wandering the streets of Brussels.
La Captive
classified 15 S Chantal Akerman
This oppressvie, beguiling adaptation of Marcel Proust's book The Prisoner probes the theme possessive love through a story of a young man who obsesses over his girlfriend.
No Home Movie
classified PG S Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman’s final film is her most forthright and fragile portrait of her relationship with her mother, which acts as a companion piece to Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
What A Good Dielman: get 20% off when you buy tickets for four or more screenings as part of Chantal Akerman: Adventures in Perception. Discount automatically applied at check out.