Chantal Akerman died by her own hand in 2015, leaving behind a vast body of work, including feature films, writing and installation art.
Silver Press will be celebrating our publication of her final book, My Mother Laughs, with a festival in collaboration with A Nos Amours.
My Mother Laughs is translated by Daniella Shreir, with an Introduction by Eileen Myles and Afterword by Frances Morgan. Published on 23 September and available to pre-order.
Tuesday 24 September, 6.30pm
Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman: Screening and discussion, Regent Street Cinema
A screening and discussion event to celebrate a three publications about Chantal Akerman: a special edition of MIRAJ journal, edited by Lucy Reynolds and Jean-Michel Mazière, Afterlives, edited by Marion Schmid and Emma Wilson and A Nos Amours’ The Chantal Akerman Retrospective Handbook, with a foreword by the celebrated theorist and film-maker Laura Mulvey. The Handbook gathers together the research and reference materials relating to A Nos Amours' 2013-15 complete retrospective of Akerman's work for cinema. The book includes texts from the likes of Ivone Margulies, Raymond Bellour and Richard Brody, together with accurate information on the films, translations and material otherwise unavailable elsewhere, making this the essential Akerman companion, available at A Nos Amours.
The event will include screening of Akerman’s self-portrait Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman.
A collaboration between A Nos Amours, Legenda, MIRAJ and CREAM. Tickets available at the Regent Street Cinema box office.
Wednesday 25 September, 7pm
My Mother Laughs by Chantal Akerman: Women Translating Women, Pages of Cheshire Street (fully booked)
My Mother Laughs is both the distillation of the themes the filmmaker Chantal Akerman pursued throughout her creative life, and a version of the simplest and most complicated love story of all: that between a mother and a daughter.
In 2013, Akerman's mother was dying. She flew back from New York to care for her, and between dressing her, feeding her and putting her to bed, she wrote. She wrote about her childhood, the escape her mother made from Auschwitz but didn't talk about, the difficulty of loving her girlfriend, C., her fear of what she would do when her mother did die. Among these imperfectly perfect fragments of writing about her life, she placed stills from her films.
Join translator Daniella Shreir and Joanna Biggs (Silver Press) in conversation about translating Akerman’s voice, style and artistic practice of translating women's lives onto the screen and page.
Thursday 26 September, 6.30pm
My Mother Laughs: Saute Ma Ville screening and panel discussion, Kings College London, Bush House Lecture Theatre 2
To celebrate the publication Chantal Akerman’s My Mother Laughs (Ma Mere Rit) in English translation by Daniella Shreir by Silver Press please join us for a screening of Saute Ma Ville (Akerman, 1968, 13 mins) followed by roundtable discussion with Frances Morgan (author of introduction, My Mother Laughs), Albertine Fox (Bristol), Jenny Chamarette (Queen Mary), Ros Murray (King’s) and Sarah Shin (Silver Press), chaired by Clara Bradbury-Rance (King’s).
My Mother Laughs is both the distillation of the themes Akerman pursued throughout her creative life, and a version of the simplest and most complicated love story of all: that between a mother and a daughter.
Register for free tickets here.
Saturday 28 September, 4pm
Celebrating Chantal Akerman: Là-bas screening and readings from My Mother Laughs by Deborah Levy and Beatrice Gibson, Barbican Cinema 2
In 2013, Chantal Akerman's mother was dying. In between caring for her, she wrote. Akerman’s memoir My Mother Laughs is both the distillation of the themes the filmmaker pursued throughout her creative life, and a version of the simplest and most complicated love story of all: that between a mother and a daughter.
Published in English by Silver Press and translated by Daniella Shreir, its publication is marked with a screening of her 2006 film Là-bas, reflecting on her family and Jewish identity, and But elsewhere is always better, Vivian Ostrovsky’s short film remembering Akerman, programmed by Silver in collaboration with A Nos Amours. With readings from My Mother Laughs by Deborah Levy and Maria Palacios Cruz (Deputy Director, LUX).
A Silver Press and A Nos Amours collaboration. Book tickets here.
Monday 30 September, 7pm
My Mother Laughs by Chantal Akerman: Daniella Shreir and Nicole Flattery, Burley Fisher
Chantal Akerman’s body of work explores dislocation, in-betweenness and fluidity. Her writing, like her life and work, resists easy categorisation. My Mother Laughs places stills from her films among imperfectly perfect fragments of writing to create a distillation of the themes Akerman pursued throughout her creative life, and a version of the simplest and most complicated love story of all: that between a mother and a daughter.
In 2013, Akerman's mother was dying. She flew back from New York to care for her, and between dressing her, feeding her and putting her to bed, she wrote. She wrote about her childhood, the escape her mother made from Auschwitz but didn't talk about, the difficulty of loving her girlfriend, C., her fear of what she would do when her mother did die.
To celebrate the publication of My Mother Laughs, Akerman’s last book before her death in 2015, by Silver Press, join translator Daniella Shreir and Nicole Flattery in conversation about Chantal Akerman’s Jewish identity and her place in relation to the queer arts of cinema and translation.
Tuesday 24, Saturday 28 and Monday 30 September
Un jour Pina a demandé
The encounter between Pina Bausch and Chantal Akerman is a meeting of sensibilities. Editing side by side scenes from performances and rehearsals from the Tanztheater Wuppertal company while they were in Venice, Milan, and Avignon, with interviews of the dancers and of Pina herself, Akerman manages to evoke the artistic and imaginary universe of the choreographer.
The screening on 30 Sept, co-hosted by the feminist film journal Another Gaze, coincides with the UK release of Chantal Akerman’s book My Mother Laughs. Translator Daniella Shreir will read an excerpt from the book prior to the screening. Book tickets.