Episode 187: Chantal Akerman (feat. Kate Blair + Sharon Gissy)

80% of the crew for Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman were women. For this episode, I needed the perspective and insights from two of the smartest women I know. Returning guest Kate Blair and newcomer Sharon Gissy join me to discuss this remarkable (and oftentimes challenging) Belgian director that completely changed European cinema back in the mid-70s. We talk about six Chantal Akerman films she’s made mostly in chronological order and several are available on the Criterion Channel. Just a heads up we had technical difficulties for the last 20 minutes so the show had to be cut a bit shorter than usual but I explain in the episode once we reach the outro.

We start with her short film debut and end on her poignant documentary News From Home. Similar themes and ideas pop up along the way. For the what we watched recently segment, titles include Rachel Getting Married, Last Year At Marienbad and QAnon: Into The Storm. Thank you so much to my wonderful guests for coming on to talk about a truly special filmmaker. Also just a heads up that the next episode on Louis Malle may not come out until the very end of May due to busy schedules from both myself and the guests.

00:00 - 09:15 - Introduction
09:16 - 10:09 - What We Watched Song
10:10 - 35:38 - What We Watched Recently
35:39 - 36:33 - Director Song
36:34 - 02:02:39 - Chantal Akerman Discussion
02:02:40 - 02:08:32 - Top Three Akerman Films / Outro

Portrait Of A Young Girl At The End Of 60s In Brussels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ijI-wOhbQo

Watch Chantal Akerman Films:
https://www.criterionchannel.com/directed-by-chantal-akerman-2

Mental Filmness Festival Hosted By Sharon:
https://mentalfilmness.com
https://www.facebook.com/mentalfilmness

Letterboxd Reviews From Sharon:
https://letterboxd.com/squissybox/list/mental-health

Letterboxd Reviews From Kate:
https://letterboxd.com/selective_kate

Voices & Visions Reviews From Kate:
https://www.voicesvisions.net/reviews/tag/kateblair

Follow Me On Letterboxd (but not on Twitter ever again):
https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/episode-187-chantal-akerman