‘Directors’ Director’ Double Feature

BY SAMANTHA ANNE CARRILLO Chantal Akerman is (definitely) the most important feminist filmmaker you’ve (probably) never heard of. From 1968 to 2015, the prolific Belgian auteur produced a body of filmic work focused on women’s private-sphere lives. From Tuesday, June 28, through Thursday, June 30, The Guild Cinema (3405 Central NE) screens new doc “I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman” and Akerman’s final film “No Home Movie.” Akerman’s most significant cinematic contribution was “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.” That 1975 film examines the banality of its eponymous housewife’s domestic existence. As a widowed single parent, Jeanne is headquartered in the kitchen (cooking for her son) and bedroom (making ends meet via prostitution). Akerman committed suicide on Oct. 5, 2015. To illustrate Akerman’s impact on contemporary American culture, consider a contemporary fan. Head Bernie Sanders campaign videographer Arun Chaudhary noted in a Daily Forward essay that his work as a former Obama White House videographer was informed by one of Akerman’s signature techniques: “glacially slow, rigidly formal and gently creeping takes.” Visit guildcinema.com to learn more. “I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman” and “No Home Movie” June 28-30, various showtimes The Guild Cinema, 3405 Central NE 255-1848, guildcinema.com

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Featured photo credit: Icarus Films

The ‘Directors’ Director’ Double Feature is available on ABQ Free Press Blog