FROM THE EAST (D’EST) European Cinema

Chantal Akerman first came to prominence with her formalist avant-garde work, Jeanne Dielman. She once again rewrites cinematic conventions with her groundbreaking new documentary, D’Est. The film records her journey from East Germany to Moscow, lastinb from late summer to mid-winter. Akerman states that she wanted to make this journey through post-Cold War Eastern Europe and Russia while there was still time, to capture the faces, sounds, and landscapes of a yet unspoiled and mysterious domain. Akerman describes her technique as “quasi-fictional documentary .. capturing sounds and pictures without trying to draw any real conclusions.” There is no commentary. Akerman refuses to narrate, to translate, or to explain, making this an uncompromising and demanding film whose haunting images linger in the imagination long after the lights come up.