Belgian director Chantal Akerman, who pioneered feminist and experimental filmmaking, died Oct. 5 in Paris at 65, the New York Times reported. The cause of death was not immediately known, though French media reported that Akerman committed suicide.
Akerman, a Brussels native, was the daughter of Holocaust survivors from Poland.
She made more than 40 films, notably “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” in 1975. Critics have called it among the great feminist films. In recent years Akerman explored her Jewish identity, according to the Times.
Her latest film, “No Home Movie,” which recently screened at the New York Film Festival, shows conversations between Akerman and her very ill mother, who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp. — jta
Chantal Akerman, feminist filmmaker
