From the East
May 01, 2016
(Chantal Akerman, 1993, 110 min)
Co-presented with SIFF: Cinema of Chantal Akerman, April 22-28
*SIFF and NWFF members receive member discounts at both venues for this special program*
FROM THE EAST retraces a journey from the end of summer to deepest winter, from East Germany, across Poland and the Baltics, to Moscow. It is a voyage Chantal Akerman wanted to make shortly after the collapse of the Soviet bloc "before it was too late," reconstructing her impressions in the manner of a documentary on the border of fiction.
By filming "everything that touched me," Akerman sifts through and fixes upon sounds and images as she follows the thread of this subjective crossing. Without dialogue or commentary, FROM THE EAST is a cinematographic elegy.
“If this isn’t a masterpiece, tear the word from your dictionary.” – The Nation
“Monumental... Akerman’s method uncannily draws the spectator in... The people and places of FROM THE EAST may be unnamed, but they are not anonymous: Their images are indelible.” —Melissa Anderson, Artforum
“A travelogue through history... Akerman has described this elegant masterpiece as ‘documentary bordering on fiction’; it’s also a purely cinematic monument in time and space.” —J. Hoberman, The Village Voice