CHANTAL AKERMAN: A JEWISH PERSPECTIVE

This class is a deep dive into the work of acclaimed Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman (1950-2015) through a Jewish lens. 

Born in Brussels, the daughter of Polish Holocaust survivors, Akerman was a prolific and relentlessly innovative director of over forty films (short, medium, and feature length) spanning styles from non-narrative avant-garde shorts to fiction, documentary, musical comedy, and literary adaptation. She is now regarded as one of the most significant directors and Jewish artists of the post-war generation. Her most famous work, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, was ranked the number one film of all time by Sight and Sound’s 2022, the first time a woman director received the award. Her movies are collectively celebrated for their original approach to filmmaking, gender, exile, displacement, and religion. 

Akerman resisted the “Jewish” label in her work. However, many of her films reference Jewish texts, explore life in the Jewish diaspora of Europe, New York, and Tel Aviv, or document the trauma and experience of the Holocaust. This class will pair her films with texts on/from Jewish ritual, philosophy, literature, and scripture to enhance our vision of her work and deepen engagement with Jewish perspectives and questions on living meaningfully.

Course structure 

The course structure consists of film screenings, presentations, and class discussions. 

Prior knowledge

The course is given in English.

No prior knowledge about the subject is needed.

Course material

Course material is included in the cost for this course.

About the teacher 

Zoe Kelly-Nacht holds a Ph.D. in religious thought from Boston University, an M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School, and a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University. She specializes in the intersections of religion, literature, and film. Zoe grew up in New York City, and prior to moving to Stockholm taught religious studies courses at Hunter College at the City University of New York and Marymount Manhattan College. She now lives in Stockholm with her partner and two small children.

Photo: ©Chantal Akerman, behind the scenes of her documentary DIS-MOI, 1980.