Education

The CINEMATEK film collection,

An (inter)national treasure.

While most people can easily define what a museum or library is, understanding the purpose and mission of a “Cinémathèque” or Film Archive can be more complicated. What does the term “Cinémathèque” mean, and what role does it play? What happens behind its doors once the projectors are turned off and the audience has left? In two articles, CINEMATEK will explore its dual role—both as a museum and on its mission of preservation and restoration. We will share the history of our spaces and invite you to explore them through an online immersive 3D tour.

CINEMATEK,

Museum of Cinema

While most people can easily define what a museum or library is, understanding the purpose and mission of a “Cinémathèque” or Film Archive can be more complicated. What does the term “Cinémathèque” mean, and what role does it play? What happens behind its doors once the projectors are turned off and the audience has left? In two articles, CINEMATEK will explore its dual role—both as a museum and on its mission of preservation and restoration. We will share the history of our spaces and invite you to explore them through an online immersive 3D tour.

Restoring Chantal Akerman's Films #2

The Digital Restoration

The restoration of Chantal Akerman’s film Demain on déménage by the Royal Film Archive of Belgium took place while the institution was preparing and organizing the retrospective dedicated to her from March to July 2024. This provides an opportunity to reflect on and examine over ten years of work on the restoration of her films. Arianna Turci and Bruno Mestdagh, heads of the film collections, and Christophe Tondeur, an expert in film restoration, explain the restoration work.

Restoring Chantal Akerman's Films #4

The Valorization of the Work

The restoration of Chantal Akerman's film Demain on déménage by the Royal Film Archive of Belgium took place while the institution was preparing and organizing the retrospective dedicated to her from March to July 2024. This is an opportunity to review and examine over ten years of work on the restoration of her films. Céline Brouwez, who works on the valorization of Chantal Akerman's work within the Fondation Chantal Akerman and CINEMATEK, explains how the restoration of her films is part of a broader effort to enhance her oeuvre.

Restoring Chantal Akerman's Films #3

The color grading of a restoration

The restoration of Chantal Akerman's film Demain on déménage by the Royal Film Archive of Belgium took place while the institution was preparing and organizing the retrospective dedicated to her from March to July 2024. This was an opportunity to reflect on and examine more than ten years of work on restoring her films. Christophe Tondeur, an expert in film restoration, discusses the color grading work he performed on Demain on déménage.

Restoring Chantal Akerman's Films #1

Preparing a Restoration

The restoration of Chantal Akerman's film Demain on déménage by the Royal Film Archive of Belgium took place while the institution was preparing and organizing the retrospective dedicated to her from March to July 2024. This is an opportunity to take stock and examine more than ten years spent working on the restoration of her films. Arianna Turci and Bruno Mestdagh, the heads of the film collections, explain the preparatory work that was done for the restoration of Chantal Akerman's films.

The greatest film of all time

Sight & Sound

The Cannes Film Festival highlighted the work of three generations (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Charlotte Vandermeersch and Félix Van Groeningen, Lukas Dhont and Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah) and the year ended with the consecration of Chantal Akerman by the magazine Sight & Sound.On 2 December, Sight & Sound published its list of the 100 best films in the history of cinema, and more than 1,600 critics and film specialists named Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, as the greatest film of all time.

08.12 > 14.02

60 years of Algerian cinema

CINEMATEK has developed this programme of 21 Algerian films, from which 5 will be screened with English subtitles. During the preparations, we have been in contact with the filmmakers Chafik Allal, Kamel Dehane and Yasmine Chouikh, also with Hakim Abdelfettah, a film professional, and have received the support of the Algerian Embassy in Brussels.

Our Story

Marina Gržinić Interview

The Western and neoliberal construction of queerness tends to ignore or even take a condescending view of alternative histories and genealogies, often portraying non-Western queer people as nameless victims without agency.

Varda & Ledoux

Agnès Varda, born in Ixelles, revolutionised the art of filmmaking through her idiosyncratic films and inspired several generations of filmmakers and artists Inspired by the Jacques Ledoux exhibition, we would like to take a closer look at her career as a filmmaker and her strong bond with Jacques Ledoux. Some people have called the dynamic duo: “Two free electrons within the force field of cinema.”

Expo Ledoux

One hundred years ago, Jacques Ledoux was born. This autumn, we pay tribute to the man who shaped CINEMATEK to become both an institution that cannot be ignored at the international level, as well as a place of exchange where, every day, the adventure of the 7th art is carefully exhibited in the widest possible spectrum.

Âge d'Or

Portugal Século XX: Visões Femininas

With #agedor, CINEMATEK illuminates the history and actuality of avant-garde film.

Restaurations

The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short

The man who had his hair cut short is one of the first Belgian films with an international career. The screenplay of this debut film by André Delvaux, one of the classics of Flemish magic-realist cinema, is based on the novel of the same name by Johan Daisne. The main character, lawyer Govert Miereveld, teaches at a girls' school in a provincial town. He harbours a secret platonic love for his pupil Fran, which plunges him into a downward spiral of mental disorientation.

Film Genres

So Bad It's Great

In cooperation with SCC, this summer we offer an educational and scholarly look at the charm and value of 'bad movies'. Jeremi Szaniawski wrote a short text in which he frames this educational film cycle within the context of our current health crisis. On 28.06 Michael Cramer will elaborate (also in French) on the 'demonic' Italian cinema of Lamberto Bava (but also Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, Claudio Fragasso...).

Silent film

'Silent' film ... sounds like music to our ears

Before the emergence of the sound film, from 1895 to the 1930s, "silent" films shaped the visual grammar of cinema for the first time. CINEMATEK takes a specific and consistent approach to screening 'silent' films: our talented pianists improvise on the spot to accompany the film images.

Âge d'Or

Âge d'Or History

L'Âge d'Or was created by Jacques Ledoux, founder of the Film Museum. L'Âge d'Or is the name of the surrealist feature film by Luis Buñuel from 1930. For Ledoux, this was the pre-eminent example of a film in which innovative language makes the subversiveness of the content even more pungent.

Âge d'Or / Silent Film

Fernand Schirren

Fernand Schirren (1920-2001) is an eccentric musician and composer who chose anything but a traditional historical-oriented approach, he left his avant-garde stamp on the film, dance and music world at home and abroad.