Chantal Akerman was 15 years old when she saw the film Pierrot le Fou by Jean-Luc Godard. According to Akerman, who was born in Belgium in 1950, this was the impulse that motivated her to be a filmmaker. Akerman attended the Film Academy in Brussels for four months, but says that she found no inspiration there whatsoever. At the age of 18 she shot the short film Saute Ma Ville and made her first mark in the annals of film history with an explosive master piece that continues to be shown at film schools and is regarded today as one of the central short films of the 20th century.
 
Since then Akerman has brought forth more than 40 documentary, experimental and narrative short and long films, including La Chambre (1970), yet another milestone of short film history. Not until three years later would Akerman, who presently resides in Paris, shoot her first feature film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, establishing herself as one of the preeminent contemporary makers of auteur films. Furthermore she created widely appreciated short films such as J’ai faim j’ai froid (1984), as well as "long" audience hits like Un divan à New York (1996) with Juliette Binoche, or La Captive (2000) with Sylvie Testud.
 
Her sojourn in New York during the early seventies was certainly of significance to her filmic development, as Akerman was able to closely study the work of avant-gardists Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow and Jonas Mekas. She felt encouraged to try out organic techniques, to use long shots and to work extensively with light when it came to the relationship of the lead character and the space in which he moved. Her filmic works are often shot in real time and demonstrate an intensive preoccupation with the light-sound ratio.
 
"Plotting is minimal or non-existent in Akerman films" wrote Lillian Schiff in her review of Akermans work, which has recently been extended by an episode for the omnibus film project O Estado do Mundo. While Akerman’s films have widely received recognition throughout the Francophone and Anglo-Saxon regions, little or no information about her is available in German speaking countries, despite the fact that her short works – some of which have disappeared or are difficult to come by – are among the best works captured on celluloid in the second half of the 20th century.