Chantal Akerman’s powerful documentaries Sud and De l’autre côté are available on arte.tv

When Sud tells the story of the 1998 murder of James Byrd, a black man lynched by three young whites in Jaspers, Texas, looking at the racial violence that eats away at the daily life of the United States, De l’autre côté charts the fate of Mexicans who decide to cross the border into America and are continually hunted down by U.S. immigration authorities as they try to escape the misery of their country.

Two films made at the turn of the twentieth century in which Chantal Akerman tells us about these United States with her eyes and which unfortunately resonate with the American news 20 years later. 

The Foundation’s archives preserves the filmmaker’s notes of intent of both films.