D’EST

Chantal Akerman made headlines in 2022 when she became the first female director to ever to top the BFI's list of the Greatest Films of All Time. Made when she was just 25 years old, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles has held the BFI's #1 spot ever since.

D'Est may not be her widely-regarded masterwork, but it is without a doubt one of the finest achievements in her prolific career. In D'Est Chantal Akerman captures the reality and mutation of former Soviet territories following the fall of the Berlin Wall, shot from summer through to winter in a series of traveling shots or with a static camera.

From East Germany to Moscow, passing through Poland, Lithuania and the Ukraine, she records the bodies and faces of the anonymous masses, their expressions unreadable, either walking or simply waiting for who knows what. She films buildings, landscapes, snow, nightfall and offers a mass of visual and aural impressions that constitute a bewitching, impressionistic poem.

This screening is a in conjunction with Cowgirl Gallery's current exhibition of painting works by Hanna Tordai. Hanna's work takes direct inspiration from Akerman's photography and will be present to speak about the relationship between her and Akerman's work.