64 minutes / Color
French / English subtitles
Release: 2001
Copyright: 1996
When asked to participate in the Cinema, of Our Time series, Chantal Akerman jokingly suggested herself as subject matter. She envisioned a film consisting solely of excerpts from her films, but when pressed by the producers to include footage of herself, Akerman grudgingly agreed, and divided the film into two parts.
The first part opens with Akerman in her apartment, reading from a text directly to the camera, describing the problems she encountered making this film. What emerges from this mise-en-scene is a funny, often personal, and always thoughtful confession from this extremely perceptive filmmaker.
Part two lets Akerman's films speak for her, taking clips from her extensive filmography and linking them anonymously until they form a new film. There are scenes from Jeanne Dielman, her best-known film, but also glimpses of several other works - forays into experimental film, comedic shorts, musicals, narrative features - including an early short that stars a very young Chantal.
"One of the finest filmmakers working anywhere … an excellent introduction to her work. A Must-See."—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
"Recommended. If viewers can put aside their notions of what a documentary about a filmmaker is supposed to do, they will find that Chantal Akerman by Chantal Akerman offers a surprisingly illuminating introduction to Akerman's work."—Educational Media Reviews Online
Select Accolades
Four documentaries spanning two decades are included in this 5-disc box set, with a 16-page booklet and bonus film about the late filmmaker.
Chantal Akerman | 2016 | 419 minutes | Color | English; French; Spanish | English subtitles
A conversation with Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman about her films and her directorial philosophy.
Gustavo Beck and Leonardo Luiz Ferreira | 2012 | 62 minutes | Color | English
Chantal Akerman retraces a journey from the end of summer to deepest winter, from East Germany, across Poland and the Baltics, to Moscow. "One of the 10 Best Films of the 1990s."— J. Hoberman, Artforum
Chantal Akerman | 2003 | 110 minutes | Color | No dialog
Using technology developed for the military, the flow of illegal immigration into San Diego has been stemmed. But for the desperate, there are still the dangerous deserts of Arizona, where Chantal Akerman shifts her focus.
Chantal Akerman | 2012 | 99 minutes | Color | Spanish | English subtitles
Chantal Akerman follows choreographer Pina Bausch and her dance company on a European tour.
Chantal Akerman | 2013 | 57 minutes | Color | English; French | English subtitles
The heart of this journey is the brutal murder of James Byrd, Jr in Jasper, Texas. But this is not an anatomy of his murder, rather, it is an evocation of how this event fits in to a landscape and climate as much mental as physical.
Chantal Akerman | 2003 | 70 minutes | Color | English
