‘Contre l’Oubli / Against Oblivion’ celebrates the breadth and influence of filmmaker Chantal Akerman

Though already underway, the retrospective tribute series “Chantal Akerman: Contre l’Oubli / Against Oblivion” is just hitting its stride. Featuring more than 20 pictures at multiple venues across Los Angeles, the series captures both the breadth of Akerman’s work and the depth of her influence as a filmmaker.

“This was done with a certain sense of urgency,” said Bérénice Reynaud, co-curator at REDCAT, one venue for the series. “I think people need to regroup. It’s why I wanted to title the series “Against Oblivion”; this is about people being clearly shocked and really wanting to commemorate her. The work is talking to people.”

Born in Brussels, Akerman died in Paris last fall at age 65. Best known for her landmark 1975 film “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,” made when she was not yet 25, Akerman created an outsize body of work that included fiction features and documentaries, short films, personal films, political films, films with both professional and nonprofessional performers and those even featuring herself and her family.

In addition to REDCAT, the series is unspooling at Cinefamily, the Los Angeles Film Forum, Fahrenheit, Veggie Cloud and Human Resources. It will conclude with a weeklong run in May at Cinefamily of Akerman’s final film, 2015’s “No Home Movie,” an intimate portrait of her ailing mother.

“This is definitely the biggest and quickest and most enthusiastic response we’ve seen for a filmmaker tribute in Los Angeles,” said William Morris, assistant programmer at Cinefamily. “So many people jumped in immediately. Everybody was just, ‘Absolutely, let’s do it.’”

One spotlight event of the program is scheduled for Monday night at REDCAT. “Against Oblivion” is a 1991 short film produced for Amnesty International featuring Catherine Deneuve. “I Am Hungry, I Am Cold” is a rarely screened 1984 short film starring Maria de Medeiros and Pascale Salkin. (It will also soon screen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, which is presenting its own Akerman series.)

The Monday program will also include a screening of Akerman’s 2000 feature “La Captive,” an adaptation of a volume of Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past” starring Sylvie Testud and Aurore Clément.

On Wednesday, Cinefamily will feature a program including Akerman’s first short film, “Saute Ma Ville” (Blow Up My Town), made when she was just 18 and in which she stars. Also screening that night will be her 1972 documentary “Hôtel Monterey,” a look at a New York residence hotel.

Among other films screening at Cinefamily will be the 1986 musical “Golden Eighties” (April 9), 1989’s “Histoires d’Amerique” (American Stories) on April 13, 1993’s “D’Est” (From the East) on April 17 and “Je Tu Il Elle” (I You He She), Akerman’s 1975 debut feature (April 19).

The Fahrenheit will screen the documentary “Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman” along with a panel discussion on her work on April 13.

Though Akerman may never have had the commercial success that would have made her a more household name, her reputation among filmmakers goes deep. Hungarian director Béla Tarr has noted how “Jeanne Dielman” deeply influenced his own debut film, “Family Nest,” just two years later. American director Andrew Bujalski recently called it “one of my life’s extraordinary good fortunes” to have had Akerman as his thesis advisor during the only year she taught at Harvard. Todd Haynes dedicated a screening of his movie “Carol” at the New York Film Festival to Akerman shortly after her death.

“I’ve never talked to a person who watched a Chantal Akerman film who came out of it and was neutral in any way,” said Morris. “There are people who don’t like it, of course, but most people have such a visceral, personal response to her work. Personally, I think it’s because Chantal Akerman is one of the only filmmakers who was always able to make fiercely personal, often autobiographical films, but they’re never solipsistic. They are always very giving.”

Akerman frequently rejected being labeled in any way, but her career-long focus on the lives of women found her work most often read through the lens of feminism. Her “Jeanne Dielman” was such a towering achievement — Reynaud said, “Sometimes, it’s the tree that hides the forest” — that for many people, it is the beginning and the end of what they know of Akerman’s work.

“She represents a certain manner of positioning feminism, but it’s totally nondogmatic,” added Reynaud. “It’s funny, it’s irreverent and it’s original. She described herself as a female Charlie Chaplin, and there is a sense of goofiness that a lot of women relate to. You can be very true to your female identity and not be a superwoman, being imperfect.”

Though the “Against Oblivion” series is far from a complete retrospective of Akerman’s work, organizers hope that it is nevertheless comprehensive, pointing curious viewers toward other works.

“I really wanted to show different parts of her career but also show the big ones,” Morris said. “The big goal is even if people come to every single one of our shows, once it’s done, they just keep going.”

Reynaud added, “There is a sense that Chantal Akerman is a difficult filmmaker, and really she’s not. It’s very accessible work. It’s not commercial work, but it’s work about people, about life and desire.”

Bujalski, whose own films include “Computer Chess” and “Results,” recently spoke at an Akerman tribute in New York City put on by the City College of New York and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. He provided a copy of his remarks to The Times.

In noting how often he is asked about any technical or stylistic influence his former teacher had on his work, he said, “The truth is that her influence was much deeper and harder to quantify, and it was entirely personal. It was the influence of seeing an artist navigate a world that’s rarely easy on artists, and doing so uncompromisingly, unapologetically and — this is the most important part — generously.”

mark.olsen@latimes.com

Twitter: @IndieFocus