Chantal Akerman

<p>Chantal Akerman was one of the most significant directors of our times. A radical innovator of cinematic forms she was at the forefront of feminist and women's filmmaking. In the 1990s she developed an important installation practice and began to experiment with self-writing.</p><p>Focusing on Akerman's works of the last two decades a period during which she diversified her creative practice this collection traces her artistic trajectory across different media. From her documentaries 'bordering on fiction' to her final installation <em>NOW</em> the volume elucidates the thematic and aesthetic concerns of the later works placing particular emphasis on self-portraiture the exploration of intimacy and the treatment of trauma memory and exile. It also attends to the aural and visual textures that underpin her art. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical approaches as well as engaging more creatively with Akerman's work the essays provide a new optic for understanding this deeply personal prescient oeuvre.</p><p>Marion Schmid is Professor of French Literature and Film at the University of Edinburgh. Emma Wilson is Professor of French Literature and the Visual Arts at the University of Cambridge.</p>