Chantal Akerman: Traces
MIFF presents an expansive survey of the singular Belgian auteur’s films, many of which are newly restored Australian premieres. Celebrating her influential career, this strand of 27 films across 13 sessions places Akerman’s iconic works alongside rarely screened titles – from student shorts to poetic documentaries, and from avant-garde rigour to wry comedy – with a focus on films that MIFF has not presented in recent years.
Akerman was a prodigious, peripatetic artist who detested labels but drew from her own experiences to construct her work. The title of this strand, put together by Senior Programmer Kate Jinx, comes from the director’s 2013 book Ma mère rit (My Mother Laughs), in which she wrestles with a comment that she puts her “whole self” into her films. No, she counters: “just traces”.
With thanks to Céline Brouwez, Piet Bogaert, Fondation Chantal Akerman, L’Institut national de l’audiovisuel (INA) and Waka Films.
Chantal Akerman: Her First Look Behind the Camera
The beginnings of Akerman’s signature style are captured in these early experimental short films she made at the age of 17.
Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman
D'est
Demain on déménage
Dis-moi
In an attempt to understand her own lineage, Akerman visits the homes of three women who survived the Holocaust.
Family Business
The act of filmmaking is gently interrogated in this screwball caper set in Los Angeles.
Hotel Monterey
J’ai faim, j’ai froid
In this newly 4K-restored gem, two adventurous teenage girls ditch Brussels for the bright lights of Paris with moving results.
Je tu il elle
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
L'Homme à la valise
La Chambre
Akerman creates an intimate still life in fluid form in this influential film that cleverly rearranges time and space.
Le 15/8
A young woman’s searching thoughts play out from indoors on a bright summer’s day.
Le jour où…
In a short she described as “an homage to Godard”, Akerman reflects on the future of cinema.
Les Rendez-vous d’Anna
Lettre de cinéaste
“To make movies,” Akerman announces, “you have to get up.” Aurore Clément joins the director in a whimsical exploration of what happens next.
News From Home
No Home Movie
An almost impossibly intimate portrait of her dying mother, Akerman’s final, melancholic film acknowledges their deep connection.
Portrait d’une jeune fille de la fin des années 60 à Bruxelles
Akerman paints a French New Wave portrait of teen anxiety and flirtation in this affectionate, quasi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama.
Portrait d’une paresseuse
In the Seven Women, Seven Sins chapter alternatively titled La Paresse (Sloth), Akerman directs and stars in an ironic meditation on idleness from the perspective of a filmmaker who’d seemingly rather stay in bed.
Rue Mallet-Stevens
Mystery, modernism and romance come alive after dark in the 16th arrondissement.
Saute ma ville
Akerman’s comedic and incendiary first completed short film – whose title loosely translates as “blow up my town” – explodes feminine conventions.
Sud
