<DIV><DIV><P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; WORD-SPACING: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">Considered to be one of the most influential auteurs in French cinema today, Chantal Akerman has had a profound impact on both feminist filmmaking discourse and avant-garde film. She has shown herself to be an uncompromising and dedicated practitioner of the cinematic arts in works such as <I>I?You?He?She </I>(<I>Je tu il elle,</I>1974); <I>Jeanne Dielman</I>, <I>23 quai du Commerce</I>, <I>1080 Bruxelles</I> (1975); <I>Meetings with Anna </I>(<I>Les Rendez-vous d'Anna,</I>1978); <I>American Stories/Food, Family, and Philosophy </I>(<I>Histoires d'Amérique,</I>1989); and <I>From the East</I> (<I>D'Est,</I>1993). Akerman has continued to create new and unexpected films that explore ideas about image, gaze, space, performance, and narration.</p><P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; WORD-SPACING: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">            </P><P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; WORD-SPACING: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">This collection of essays edited by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster assesses Akerman's wide-ranging oeuvre, particularly her exploration of identity and memory, and considers her development as an artist and as a social force. Along with a detailed filmography and bibliography, both compiled by Foster, ten of the key figures in contemporary feminist moving-image discourse explore the themes with which Akerman is preoccupied: sexuality and lesbian identity, subjectivity, alterity, quotidian reality, the mother-daughter relationship, and Jewish diasporic identity.</p><P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; WORD-SPACING: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"> </P><P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; WORD-SPACING: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">The contributors include Maureen Turim, Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, Jennifer M. Barker, Ivone Margulies, Catherine Fowler, Janet Bergstrom, Ginette Vincendeau, Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Judith Mayne, and Kristine Butler.</p><P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; WORD-SPACING: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"> </P><P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; WORD-SPACING: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">Originally published in the United Kingdom by Flicks Books, this marks the first United States edition of <I>Identity and Memory: The Films of Chantal Akerman</I>.</p></DIV></DIV>