- January 03 - February 28, 2009
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Chantal Akerman
Phyllis Wattis Theater
Chantal Akerman crosses between the worlds of art and cinema, making video installations for galleries as well as films for theatrical release. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, her breakthrough work, observes a woman's domestic routines, slowly, patiently, and ultimately disturbingly. It exemplifies Akerman's ability to create intense psychological studies of everyday life. She is also highly attuned to the human experience of time, memory, and journeying, whether in relation to migration and political borders (News from Home, Histoiresd’Amérique) or coming of age (Saute ma ville; Je, tu, il, elle). This series explores Akerman's work in depth, from her earliest films to the recent Là-bas, an extraordinary meditation on Israel that centers on the filmmaker herself, trapped in a temporary apartment in Tel Aviv.
$5 general; free for SFMOMA members or with museum admission (requires a free ticket, which can be picked up in the Haas Atrium). Double features: films offered on the same date are included in one ticket. Tickets are available at the museum (with no surcharge) or online.
Past
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Chantal Akerman Shorts
Saute ma ville
1968, 11 min.
La Chambre
1972, 11 min.
Hôtel Monterey
1972, 65 min. -
Chantal Akerman's shorts explore interiors — the psychological interiors of people, and the spatial interiors of places. Saute ma ville — which can be seen as a…
Read moreSaturdays, January 03 and 10, 2009, 1:00 p.m.
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News from Home
1977, 85 min.
French, no subtitles -
In News from Home Akerman juxtaposes the reading of letters from her Belgian mother with images of the New York cityscape. The film presents a fragmented look at urban life in the…
Read moreSaturday, January 10, 2009, 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 17, 2009, 1:00 p.m.
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Golden Eighties
1986, 96 min.
French, no subtitles
A PDF of the dialogue in English is available by request: public_programs@sfmoma.org -
Golden Eighties follows three women at a beauty salon who are pining over the hunky son of the neighboring boutique owner. Set entirely in a Parisian shopping mall, this…
Read moreSaturday, January 24, 2009
1:00 p.m.
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Histoires d'Amérique
1988, 92 min.
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Histoires d'Amérique tells the informal history of Jewish life for the past century. Linking cultural identity with storytelling, Akerman explores immigration, family,…
Read moreSaturday, January 24, 2009
3:00 p.m.
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Je, tu, il, elle
1974, 90 min.
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Akerman directs and stars in this film, which focuses on two days in a woman's life. The story centers around the lonely woman's creative struggles and her emotional distance from…
Read moreThursday, January 29, 2009
7:00 p.m.
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Nuit et jour
1991, 90 min.
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Jack is a taxi driver by night and spends his days with Julie in their Parisian flat. Julie begins an affair with Joseph, the man who drives the same taxi by day. Julie's world is…
Read moreSaturday, January 31, 2009
1:00 p.m.
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D'Est
1993, 107 min.
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Often shown as a series of installations, D'Est journeys across Eastern Europe as the Soviet Union disintegrates. Akerman's images move across screen and through time, uninterrupted…
Read moreSaturday, January 31, 2009, 3:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 12, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
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Toute une nuit
1982, 90 min.
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Toute une nuit follows individuals and couples in their journeys through romance and human interaction. Through a series of vignettes with fragmented narration and minimal…
Read moreSaturday, February 14, 2009
1:00 p.m.
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Là-bas
2006, 78 min.
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In this documentary of sorts, Akerman creates a conglomerated sense of exile, voyeurism, belonging, and hope. Là-bas covers the filmmaker's time spent in a Tel Aviv…
Read moreSaturday, February 14, 2009
3:00 p.m.
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Sud
1999, 71 min.
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Inspired by the literary works of William Faulkner, Akerman set out to make a film about the beauty of the American South. However, after arriving on location (in Jasper, Texas)…
Read moreSaturday, February 21, 2009
1:00 p.m.
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From the Other Side
2002, 99 min.
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In this documentary, Akerman examines the dualistic nature of illegal immigration, presenting long static shots of the land on both sides of the U.S.–Mexican border and…
Read moreSaturday, February 21, 2009
3:00 p.m.
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Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
1974, 201 min.
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Jeanne Dielman is Akerman's most well-known film, and it is certainly considered a masterpiece of cinema. It follows a widowed mother and housewife through three days of her life.…
Read moreThursday, February 26, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 28, 2009, 1:00 p.m.
Film at SFMOMA is generously supported by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. Special thanks to the Cultural Services of the French Consulate in San Francisco for helping to make this series possible.
