Chantal Akerman: The Rebel Who Shook Up Cinema

Born in Brussels in 1950 and the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Chantal Akerman directed more than 40 films (short, medium, and feature-length) in 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 become increasingly relevant since her death in 2015, resonating with cinephiles globally as well as filmmakers including Joanna Hogg (The Eternal Daughter), Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light), Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman), Sean Baker (Anora), Alice Diop (Saint Omer) Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) and Charlotte Wells (Aftersun) citing her radical and experimental approach to filmmaking as a direct inspiration.

Although best known for her landmark second 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…