News From Home ¹⁹⁷⁷

In News from Home (1976), Chantal Akerman takes us through New York in the 1970s, with long, still shots of streets, subway stations and anonymous passers-by, while she reads letters from her mother in Brussels. These letters, full of everyday worries and motherly advice, form a moving contrast to the distant city, and portray feelings of homesickness, alienation and migration in a subdued but impressive way. The film offers a personal view of the relationship between mother and daughter, and at the same time a universal story about being in a strange place and leaving home behind.

Chantal Akerman (1950–2015) was a groundbreaking Belgian filmmaker and artist, known for her radical and personal film style. Inspired by Godard at a young age, she developed a unique cinematic signature from the 1970s onwards, in which time, space and the everyday are central. Her international breakthrough came with Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), which has since been declared the greatest film of all time (Sight & Sound, 2022). Akerman made more than fifty films, ranging from fiction to documentary and installation art, and is internationally renowned for her influence on feminist and queer cinema. Her work explores themes such as identity, memory, desire and autonomy, and continues to inspire generations of filmmakers to this day.

Introduction by Dana Linsen Dana Linssen is a film critic for NRC since 1997, former editor-in-chief of Filmkrant (1998-2019), teacher and philosopher. As founder of the Slow Criticism Project, she organizes interventions as a counterbalance to the commodification of film journalism. She is known for her sharp analyses and passion for cinema as an art form. With her expertise and enthusiasm, Dana knows how to inspire you to look at film with a fresh perspective.