Honouring Chantal Akerman | Wallonia Brussels Focus

In February, ARTS.FILM pays tribute to Wallonia-Brussels Cinema and Chantal Akerman by offering you 5 free films to watch !

In 2022, the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound magazine crowned Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1973) as the greatest film of all time, marking a groundbreaking moment in cinema history with Chantal Akerman becoming the first female director to top the list.

To honor her legacy, we begin our spotlight on Wallonia-Brussels cinema with this iconic Belgian filmmaker, revered for her intimate, modern approach to storytelling.

In I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman, a documentary by Marianne Lambert, Akerman revisits the locations that defined her career, reflecting on her groundbreaking filmography in a poignant final lesson shortly before her passing.

But Akerman’s humility reminds us that the film world is bigger than one voice. Alongside her work, we present a selection of contemporary films by emerging artists, including:

• Miléna Trivier’s Algorithms of Beauty—a dreamlike exploration of nature and art.
• Frédéric Liver’s Les quatre mille coups—a dancer’s journey to master Maurice Béjart’s Boléro.
• Alice Khol’s Juliette the Great—a quirky, inspiring portrait of an aspiring artist.
• Katharina Kastner’s Villa Empain—a reflective, atmospheric tour of Brussels’ Art Deco masterpiece.

We invite you to explore these remarkable works, which together celebrate the enduring power of cinema and its creative, collective spirit.

Presented in partnership with the Délégation générale Wallonie-Bruxelles au Québec/​Canada and Wallonie-Bruxelles International.