1993

D’Est

From the East

Belgium-France, 1993 / 16mm / Colour / 115 min


“ Evocation de la guerre. Implosion.”

D’Est

Belgium-France, 1993 / 16mm / Colour / 115 min

Production: Lieurac Production (Paris), Paradise Films (Brussels), in association with La Sept, Arte, RTBF and RTP

Sound: Pierre Mertens, Thomas Gauder, Dider Pecheur

Editing: Claire Atherton, Agnès Bruckert

Photography: Raymond Fromont, Bernard Delville

Following the demolition of the Berlin Wall, Chantal Akerman captures the reality and mutation of former Soviet territories, shot from summer through to winter in a series of travelling 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.