Born in Brussels in 1950 to parents who had survived the Holocaust, Chantal Akerman directed more than 40 films (short, medium and feature-length) over 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 resonated with cinephiles globally and become increasingly relevant since her death in 2015, with filmmakers including Joanna Hogg (The Eternal Daughter), Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman), Alice Diop (Saint Omer) and Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), among others, citing her radical and experimental approach to cinema as a direct inspiration.
Although best known for her landmark second narrative 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), Akerman never stopped rebelling, continuously experimenting throughout her career to challenge the formal and narrative boundaries of film.
The Films
Toute Une Nuit (1982), Les Annees 80 (1983), Golden Eighties (1986), La Paresse (1986), Histoires d'Amerique: Food, Family and Philosophy (1988), D'Est (1993), Sud (1999), La Captive (2000), De l'Autre Côté (2002), La-bas (2006), La Folie Almayer (2011), No Home Movie (2015)
Extras
- Five Blu-ray set featuring 12 landmark films by Chantal Akerman
- Hotel des Acacias (Yves Hanchar, Pierre Charles Rochette, Francois Vanderveken, Isabelle Willems, 1982): the outcome of an INSAS workshop led by Chantal Akerman
- Audio commentary on Histoires d'Amerique: Food, Family and Philosophy by Marc David Jacobs
- No Home But Cinemas: The Spaces of Chantal Akerman (2025): video essay by writer and critic Jessica McGoff
- Le Rendez-vous de Chantal Akerman (2025): panel discussion with Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cellist and composer), Adam Roberts (co-founder of A Nos Amours collective), Celine Brouwez (Fondation Chantal Akerman), Lynda Myles (former director of Edinburgh International Film Festival) and Isabel Stevens (Sight and Sound)
- Marilyn Watelet Q&A (2025): Akerman's lifelong friend and producer looks back over her life and career
- Sonia Wieder-Atherton Q&A (2025): the cellist and composer discusses Golden Eighties
- Proust and Signs (2025): video essay on La Captive by writer and critic Cristina Alvarez Lopez
- Autour de la Folie Almayer (2022): 'making of' documentary, shot by Sopheak Sao in 2010 and edited by Marwan Montel in 2021
- Everyone Has Their Own Life (2025): video essay on No Home Movie by artist Sarah Wood
- 72-page perfect-bound book featuring new essays by Erin Nunoda, Daniella Shreir, Rachel Pronger, Ivone Margulies, Elena Gorfinkel, Blair McClenden, Catherine Wheatley, Ivan Ramos, Adam Roberts, Marion Schmid, Alisa Lebow and Cristina Alvarez Lopez
- Limited edition of 2,000 copies
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