Masters: Chantal Akerman’s News From Home
Chantal Akerman (1950-2015) is considered one of the boldest cinematic visionaries of the past quarter century. Though profoundly idiosyncratic in her approach, Akerman’s work has been firmly situated in both the experimental and documentary film canons. She was deeply influenced by the structural films of Michael Snow, Yvonne Rainer, and Andy Warhol, to which she was exposed when she came to New York from her native Belgium in 1970, at age twenty. Her greatest achievement came to her early, at the mere age of twenty-five, with JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAY DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES, universally recognized as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time.
Series Events
Thu, Nov 17, 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm
This lecture will shine a light on Akerman’s vast contributions to film culture, and contextualize her career through a discussion and presentation of her autobiographical avante-garde documentary, NEWS FROM HOME (1976).
In NEWS FROM HOME, letters from Chantal Akerman’s mother in Brussels are read over a series of elegantly composed shots of 1976 New York, where our (unseen) filmmaker and protagonist has relocated. Akerman’s unforgettable time capsule of the city is also a gorgeous meditation on urban alienation and personal and familial disconnection.
Tickets: $15 / $12 Avalon members
Series Curator
Sky Sitney is the former Festival Director of AFI Docs (previously known as Silverdocs), and is recognized as one of the key contributors in helping it become one of the leading documentary festivals in the United States. She recently joined the Film and Media Studies Department at Georgetown University as a visiting Assistant Professor, and serves as a consultant for a variety of film and media organizations. She received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and M.A. from New York University, where she is currently a doctoral candidate in Cinema Studies.