Season of films to put pioneer of female film-making in the spotlight 

Chantal Akerman, a maverick in the world of avant-garde cinema, once expressed her desire for people to “experience film in their body”.

Her movies, unique in their relentless exploration of time, space, and human experience, delve into the minutiae of everyday life with striking precision, challenging traditional narrative structures.

Over a 50-year career, Akerman made more than 40 films, a diverse collection including documentaries, dramas, book adaptations, and even musical comedies.

As a trailblazing female director, her influence can be seen in the works of directors like Céline Sciamma and Joanna Hogg, inspiring a new generation of film-makers.

The Triskel Cinema is now offering Cork audiences a unique opportunity to experience Akerman’s work. Starting on Saturday, February 22, it will present five of her most acclaimed films.

The programme opens with Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Delphine Seyrig plays Jeanne, a 40-something widowed single mother with one son. The film, set over three days, charts Jeanne’s daily activities as we follow her doing housework, cooking, mending her son’s clothes, and working as a sex worker when the boy has gone to school, to earn an income.

Chris O’Neill, head of cinema at Triskel, says he is delighted to have the opportunity to introduce Cork audiences to Akerman’s work.

“The Belgian filmmaker is one of the most notable directors of European cinema from the 20th century, and yet her work has been very difficult to see in recent years.

“So, when the British Film Institute announced a touring programme featuring several of her pictures, I jumped at the chance of screening them at Triskel.

“Her second feature film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles was named as the greatest of all time in Sight and Sound’s critic’s poll in 2022. I’m delighted that Cork audiences will get a chance to see this seminal work as well as the other films in the programme.”

Akerman is also the youngest director to feature in Sight and Sounds’ Top 100. She was 24 when she made Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, and began making films when she turned 18.

Shot in real-time, the film examined a woman’s role as a home-maker and provider in a way that films hadn’t done before. Through Jeanne’s routine, we also see her anxiety, loneliness, and the isolation of being a single parent. Akerman made the film with an almost all-female crew, which was virtually unheard of at the time.

The second film in the series is Je Tu Il Elle, Akerman’s first narrative feature, released in 1974. She was 24 when she made this largely autobiographical movie, and she took the lead role, playing Julie, a young woman who finds intimacy following a period of self-isolation.

We first meet Julie alone in her room. After some time, desperate for a connection, she leaves her room and meets a truck driver (Niels Arestrup) who picks her up.

Later, Julie reconnects with her former girlfriend (Claire Wauthion) but is unsure of how they are to proceed.

Je Tu Il Elle explores isolation, sexual identity, emotional disconnection, and physical intimacy through minimal dialogue, reflecting the character’s inner turmoil and Akerman’s signature style-sparse but emotionally resonant.

In 1977’s News From Home, Akerman creates an evocative documentary that blends the personal and the universal through a poignant exploration of displacement and identity.

She had left Belgium in the early 1970s and moved to New York. The documentary examines the city at the time through a series of letters between Akerman and her mother, Nelly, between 1971 and 1973.

Mother and daughter had an uneasy relationship. Akerman’s mother, a survivor of the Holocaust, didn’t share much of her early life with her daughter and, understandably, struggled with what she had gone through. Their strained relationship is evident in much of Akerman’s work, never more so than in News From Home.

Akerman uses the everyday sounds of New York to contrast with the everyday nature of some of the letters, reminding the viewer that the world keeps turning no matter what is going on in our personal lives.

Les Rendez-vous d’Anna, or Meetings Of Anna, was released in 1978 and stars Aurore Clément as Anna, a Belgian film-maker on a press tour. Her character is based on Akerman and her experience promoting her latest work in , Belgium, and .

As Anna travels from country to country, the story explores her interactions with her family, friends, former partners, and strangers. It is a portrait of loneliness, and the damage isolation can cause to mental health.

Examining the inner thoughts of a female protagonist became a hallmark of Akerman’s work, and Les Rendez-vous d’Anna is yet another example of her trailblazing film-making.

Golden Eighties is a vastly different Akerman film than the others lined up in the Triskel season. Feminism is front and centre, but the film takes a much more light-hearted approach and is a comedy musical.

It manages to tackle serious issues like relationships and consumerism, but it does so through a lighter lens, displaying Akerman’s ability to shift between genres with ease.

The film follows the staff and customers of a large shopping centre. Delphine Seyrig, who played the lead in Jeanne Dielman, stars in this comedic look at the lives and loves of several women who work in the shopping centre.

The Films of Chantal Akerman start on February 22 at Triskel Cinema, www.triskelartscentre.ie