The Akerman Year

Kate and Simon are joined by author and film academic Rebecca Sheehan to dissect two later Akerman features, including her final scripted feature, bound together in this episode by their respective takes on literary giants. First up is 2000's La Captive, derived from a section of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time; next is Almayer's Folly, derived from the Joseph Conrad novella/story of the same name.

Music by: Rachmaninoff, Mozart.

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Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

Film scholar and author Patricia White joins us to tackle a couple of Akerman's more direct attempts at self-portraiture (Lettre d'un Cinéaste and Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman), along with Sami Frey's behind-the-scenes chronicle Autour de Jeanne Dielman (edited by Akerman in the early 2000s). Discussed: the greatness of Delphine Seyrig, the joy of listening to Akerman talk about movies, her push-pull approach to tackling commissioned work, and (of course) much more.

Music by: The Peter Parkers, Tim Hecker, Sandy Denny.

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

Riding guest-free for a change, Kate and Simon tackle three films (a short and two features) that touch on issues of racism, injustice, and murder: the Amnesty International-prompted Pour Febe Elisabeth Velasquez, El Salvador, 1999's Sud and 2002's De L'Autre Coté. We also dive a little more than usual into criticisms of Akerman's documentary work/style and consider how the intervening decades have treated Akerman's portraits of American racism and violence.

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

With the help of scholar and filmmaker Alisa Lebow, who arrives armed with memories of meeting and speaking with Akerman, we tackle some of the Akerman work most inherently tied up with questions and challenges of Jewish identity, history and politics. These films are: 1980's medium-length TV doc Dis-Moi (Tell Me); 1986's tragicomic examination of Jewish life in New York, Histoires d'Amerique, and 2006's experimental and bracing La-Bas (Down There).

Check out Alisa's Filming Revolution here: https://www.filmingrevolution.org/

Music:

If youlike the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

After a mid-season siesta, we're back with one of the most obviously pleasurable and accessible groupings of any episode of The Akerman Year: that's right, it's time for musicals. Girish Shambu is on with us to talk about the beguiling whatsit Les Années 80, the one-hour TV documentary One Day Pina Asked, and finally Akerman's long-in-the-making Golden Eighties.

(Apologies for the blown-out sound on Simon's mic. Those responsible are above sacking but have received a strong reprimand.)

Read the Pajama interview in LOLA: http://www.lolajournal.com/2/pajama.html

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

This month, we're taking a look at Akerman's sole foray into the English mainstream via the 1996 rom-com A Couch in New York, while also taking a look at the 7-minute short that followed in its wake (the introspective Le jour ou) and looking backwards to a previous comic gem, 1984's 60-minute L'homme a la valise. Joining us for this spirited and lively discussion is the great Miriam Bale, returning Lodgers champ. Discussed: Jewish comedy, Akerman's physical comic chops, William Hurt as the end boss of WASPSs, and much more.

Follow Miriam on Twitter at @miriambale and follow the Indie Memphis Film Festival at @indiememphis.

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

Once again, the stylistic breadth of Akerman's work comes to the fore via two features linked closely in theme but vastly divergent in approach. First up is Toute une nuit (1982), which chronicles a single smouldering Brussels night via the (mostly) romantic trials and tribulations of several dozen characters; that's followed this month by the more divisive Nuit et jour (1991), a chronicle of bifurcated love in the form of an askew philosophical romantic drama, complete with narration supplied by Akerman herself. Writer and critic Caden Mark Gardner is on hand to help us out on this one!

Caden's article on the Digital Trans Archive as mentioned by Kate: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7254-from-the-margins-what-the-archives-show-us-about-trans-cinema-and-audiences

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

This month, Lodgers alumnus and filmmaker Jessica Bardsley joins us to talk about three exceedingly different projects, all linked by the theme of displacement: 1978's Jeanne Dielman follow-up Les rendez-vous d'Anna, 1984's hilarious Family Business, made while looking to secure funding for Golden Eighties (more on that one in a future episode) and 1993's commanding documentary depicting life in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the USSR, D'Est.

Music used in this episode: Imperia, "Train to Leningrad"

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

This month, we're joined by Lakshmi Padmanabhan to discuss two films centered around the acts of letter-reading: first up is the widely heralded News From Home, Akerman's 1976 feature juxtaposing the letters her mother wrote to her in the early 70s with contemporary images of New York life. After that, we zoom ahead a decade to look at her less well-known (and much less-seen) Letters Home, a filmed adaptation of a play derived from Sylvia Plath's correspondences with her mother.

Non-Akerman works referenced this month:

Music used in this episode: dEUS, Blondie, News From Babel.

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/

Special guest Erin Nunoda joins us for a fun and freewheeling (and queer theory-festooned!) chat about a stylistically diverse set of sharp, daring and often pretty funny movies set in Brussels, Paris, and points in between.

Films discussed this month:

Clips of "Suzanne" performed by: Françoise Hardy, Jorane, Peter Gabriel and Young Galaxy.

If you like the show or what we do generally, consider throwing us a few bucks to help cover our costs: https://paypal.me/kateandsimonpod

Our intro music is performed by Sundar Subramanian. You can stream and buy his work here: https://sundarsubramanian.bandcamp.com/