My Mother Laughs Prelude (2012)

"My Mother Laughs Prelude" is a performance based on Chantal Akerman's book about her mother. In 2013, as Akerman’s mother was dying, she returned to Brussels from New York to care for her, writing between tending to her needs. She wrote about her childhood, her mother's unspoken escape from Auschwitz, the challenges of loving her girlfriend, C., and her fear of her mother's death. Interspersed with these personal reflections are stills from Akerman’s films. "My Mother Laughs" is a reflection of the central themes in Akerman's work, and an exploration of the most fundamental and complex relationship: that between a mother and a daughter.