Film shot through blinds of Tel Aviv flat features at Barbican Cinema
‘Là Bas’ by Chantal Akerman is one of the curated first-person documentaries due to feature on the cinema's new on-demand streaming platform
A film shot entirely through the blinds of a Tel Aviv apartment is one of the curated first-person documentaries due to feature in the Barbican Cinema’s new on-demand streaming platform beginning this week.
‘Là Bas,’ an experimental 2006 film from Chantal Akerman, looks out at life from a flat during her month-long teaching course, and is described as an exploration of Israeli society and Jewish identity.
Akerman was the Belgian child of Holocaust survivors and the film, among her least known, was picked for the London institution’s first fully curated and themed season called ‘Inner States,’ dedicated to the art of the first-person documentary.
The category describes any non-fiction film in which the director does not assume a stand-off, all-seeing perspective “but leans into their subjective point of view and experience”.
Akerman, who died in Paris five years ago aged 65, directed and exhibited artistic films around the world, and spoke extensively of her fraught relationship with her mother, Nelly, who survived Auschwitz.
Other films appearing in the Barbican line-up are Palestinian film-maker Raed Andoni’s 2009 film ‘Fix Me, an investigation of his place in the Palestinian uprising and its aftermath, as well as Iranian dissident Jafar Panahi’s ‘This Is Not a Film,’ which charts his house arrest and film-making ban by Iranian censors.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
