While American film companies frequently ignore foreign films
without a clear American market, the UCLA Film and Television
Archive is making sure one experienced foreign filmmaker
isn’t being left out.
The Archive will present a retrospective of the work of French
filmmaker Chantal Akerman throughout the month of March, including
a special appearance by the filmmaker herself on March 9. Screening
eight of her films on campus, the Archive will highlight a large
variety of Akerman’s work, ranging from documentary-style
films to fictional narratives.
According to film Professor Janet Bergstrom, who teaches French
film here at UCLA, retrospectives like these provide an important
opportunity to view an artist’s work.
“She’s not easy to categorize, and that’s why
her films are not in distribution much,” she said. “She
combines experimental filmmaking with the bare minimalism of New
York avant-garde of the 1970s.”
From her debut as a filmmaker in 1968 with the short
black-and-white film, “Saute ma ville” (“Blow Up
My Town”), to one of her latest films, “De
l’autre côté” (“From the Other
Side”), about U.S.-Mexican border relations, Akerman has been
able to cover a wide variety of themes in her work, including
feminism and ethnic identity issues. What makes her work stand out
has been her ability to keep making films for such a long time on
her own.
“She is the quintessential independent filmmaker,”
said Bérénice Reynaud, who co-curated the retrospective.
“She writes, co-writes, initiates all her projects, and finds
all the money herself. She’s someone who’s managed to
write her own ticket.”
Like the work of many independent filmmakers, understanding
Akerman’s work is no simple task. Many of her films lack
plot-driven narratives.
“If you go in and you’re thinking “˜Lord of the
Rings,’ then you’re not going to understand it,”
Bergstrom said. “But if you can accept the pace, then
you’re really going to like her films.”
Despite her lack of mainstream appeal in the United States
(which might be attributed to the fact that most of her films are
not made in English), Akerman maintains a fair amount of popularity
in Europe. Still, of the roughly 100 films released each year in
the United States in a language other than English, only a dozen
have made over $1 million.
Indeed, more than half of the Akerman films being shown on
campus are currently unavailable on either video or DVD in this
country.
Most well known for “Jeanne Dielman,” a three-hour
portrait of a Belgian widow who balances everyday chores with
taking in a “gentleman caller” at night in order to
support herself and her moronic son, Akerman has gained relative
fame as a feminist-modernist filmmaker.
According to Reynaud, however, pigeon-holing Akerman into the
category of a female filmmaker can seriously overlook a lot of the
other important themes Akerman’s work explores. As the
daughter of a Holocaust survivor, many of Akerman’s films
revolve around the reclaiming of a Jewish identity.
“She’s uncategorizable and surprising,” said
Archive programmer David Pendleton. “Akerman has the ability
to take certain kinds of stylistic trends, as well as a sense of
humor, and still (includes) a lot of serious reflection.”