Identity And Memory: The Films of Chantal Akerman - Softcover

Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809325136 ISBN 13: 9780809325139

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003

Synopsis

Considered to be one of the most influential auteurs in world cinema, Chantal Akerman (1950 - 2015) had a profound impact on both feminist filmmaking discourse and avant-garde film. She was an uncompromising and dedicated practitioner of the cinematic arts in works such as I...You...He...She (Je tu il elle,1974); Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975); Meetings with Anna (Les Rendez-vous d'Anna,1978); American Stories/Food, Family, and Philosophy (Histoires d'Amérique,1989); and From the East (D'Est,1993). Akerman created new and unexpected films that explore ideas about image, gaze, space, performance, and narration.

This collection of essays edited by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster assesses Akerman's wide-ranging oeuvre, particularly her exploration of identity and memory, and considers her development as an artist and as a social force. Along with a detailed filmography and bibliography, ten of the key figures in contemporary feminist moving-image discourse explore the themes with which Akerman is preoccupied: sexuality and lesbian identity, subjectivity, alterity, quotidian reality, the mother-daughter relationship, and Jewish diasporic identity.

The contributors include Maureen Turim, Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, Jennifer M. Barker, Ivone Margulies, Catherine Fowler, Janet Bergstrom, Ginette Vincendeau, Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Judith Mayne, and Kristine Butler.

Originally published in the United Kingdom by Flicks Books, this marks the first United States edition of Identity and Memory: The Films of Chantal Akerman.

About this title

About the Author

Gwendolyn Audrey Foster is an award-winning experimental filmmaker and a prolific author. Foster co-edited The Experimental Film Reader and wrote A Short History of Film, both with co-author Wheeler Winston Dixon. Foster is Willa Cather Professor Emerita in film studies at University of Nebraska.

         

Foster and Dixon are also the Series Editor of the new book series, "Quick Takes: Movies and Popular Culture," published by Rutgers University Press.

 

Visit gwendolynaudreyfoster.com for more information on Foster. Visit vimeopro.com/gwendolynaudreyfoster/experimental-films for more on Foster's experimental films and video installations.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0809325136
• ISBN 13: 9780809325139
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216