For Febe Elisabeth Velasquez, El Salvador

For Febe Elisabeth Velasquez, El Salvador

1991 · 4 min · ★ 7.0

Commissioned by Amnesty International for its TV program Ecrire contre l’oubli (Write Against Oblivion), Akerman’s contribution in the form of a poem is dedicated to Febe Elisabeth Velasquez, an El Salvadorian trade unionist and mother of three, murdered by the US-backed junta. Deneuve emerges from the calm of a Parisian night to deliver a heartfelt plea for remembrance of Febe Elisabeth’s too short life. Sonia Wieder-Atherton’s cello weeps appropriately.

Directed by Chantal Akerman

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Cast

Catherine Deneuve

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1h 56m together

For Febe Elisabeth Velasquez, El Salvador

Lest We Forget

Both from Chantal Akerman.

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Mallet-Stevens Street

Mallet-Stevens Street · 1986

Mallet-Stevens Street

Commissioned for the centenary of the famous French architect and designer Robert Mallet-Stevens and shot on the street that bears his name in Paris' 16th arrondissement, Rue Mallet-Stevens depicts a mysterious, nocturnal scene of romance (featuring Akerman and her partner, the cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton) unfolding before and inside one of the street's modernist constructions.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles · 1976

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

A lonely young widow lives with her son following an immutable order: while the boy is in school, she cares for their apartment, does chores, and receives clients in the afternoon.

Family Business

Family Business · 1984

Family Business

MovieComedyDrama

Chantal Akerman was commissioned by Visions to make this short film for £20,000. It was first shown on 21 November 1984, on Channel 4. Akerman herself plays the role of a director visiting Hollywood to find financing from an uncle she hardly knows. Very little goes to plan… Also stars Aurore Clement and Colleen Camp.

Letters Home

Letters Home · 1986

MovieTV MovieDrama

A filmed adaptation of Rose Leiman Goldemberg’s play, based on Sylvia Plath’s intense correspondence with her mother Aurelia, from the time the poet was in university until her suicide. Delphine Seyrig and her niece Coralie Seyrig recite Sylvia and Aurelia’s letters to the audience directly.

The Meetings of Anna

The Meetings of Anna · 1978

The Meetings of Anna

Detached filmmaker Anna Silver arrives in Germany to show her latest film; over the course of some days, she encounters a variety of new and old faces, some of whom make personal revelations to her to little affect.

News from Home

News from Home · 1977

MovieDocumentary

Impersonal and beautiful images of Akerman's life in New York are combined with letters from her loving but manipulative mother, read by Akerman herself.

From the East

From the East · 1993

MovieDocumentary

In this incisive dispatch from the newly collapsed Soviet empire, bullet holes from WWII still pockmark the old stone buildings. Akerman journeys from East Germany to Moscow between the late summer and winter of 1993 ('while there’s still time'), chronicling in deliberate tracking shots, circular pans, and domestic tableaux yet another moment of radical upheaval in the 20th-century, the faces and bodies of Poles, Ukrainians, Germans, and Russians weighed down with obedient resignation and uncertainty.

Moving In

Moving In · 1993

"A man stands amid unpacked boxes in his new home, delivering an extended monologue on indecision and dislocation. This rarely seen, overlooked gem created by Akerman for television explores the quotidian crises and profound feelings of alienation that run through her work." - BAM

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget · 1991

MovieDocumentaryDrama

A compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea on behalf of a political prisoner. Jean Luc Godard and Anne Marie Mieville's film concerns the plight of Thomas Wanggai, West Papuan activist who has since died in prison. The short films were commissioned by Amnesty International.

Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the '60s in Brussels

Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the '60s in Brussels · 1994

Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the '60s in Brussels

MovieTV MovieDrama

The main character, Michèle, spends the hour discussing her views of life with some old and new friends, and tries to understand her own feelings about her place in the world and her sexuality, while a camera follows along at close range.

Hôtel des Acacias

Hôtel des Acacias · 1982

Hôtel des Acacias

MovieRomanceComedy

Several young men and women arrive one after the other at Hôtel des Acacias, full of hope, desire and vitality. In the bustle of this hotel, everyone is looking for love. Hôtel des Acacias was an exercise guided in 1982 by Chantal Akerman at Belgium’s INSAS audio-visual college.

Je Tu Il Elle

Je Tu Il Elle · 1974

MovieDramaRomance

A woman suffers a subdued psychological breakdown in the wake of a devastating breakup.

The Beloved Child, or I Play at Being a Married Woman

The Beloved Child, or I Play at Being a Married Woman · 1971

The Beloved Child, or I Play at Being a Married Woman

MovieDocumentary

In this unfinished work, a young mother, her little girl, as well as a friend of the mother's, spend the summer in a villa. The mother shares her problems – womanhood, motherhood, being married - with her friend, dresses up with the little girl, observes her body, and does a series of household tasks.

Golden Eighties

Golden Eighties · 1986

Golden Eighties

MovieMusicComedy

In a lively shopping center, proprietors and customers are bustling, including three women vying for a man's heart with song and dance.

Toute une nuit

Toute une nuit · 1982

MovieDramaRomance

Following over two dozen different individuals in the almost wordless atmosphere of a dark night in a Brussels town, acceptance and rejection in the realm of romance is examined.

Portrait of a Lazy Woman

Portrait of a Lazy Woman · 1986

Portrait of a Lazy Woman

MovieComedyDocumentary

Belgian director Chantal Akerman struggles to overcome her laziness in the name of making a film about the subject.

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