Chantal Akerman, Min mamma skrattar (My Mother Laughs)

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About the book

Min mamma skrattar (My Mother Laughs) draws on Akerman's own life and her relationship with her mother. As in the film No Home Movie (2014), the mother's silence regarding her family history emerges as decisive for Akerman's artistic work. Yet the book is not an autobiography — rather, it is a searching inquiry into identity and autonomy, something that becomes especially palpable in the way Akerman works with the different voices of the text. In a style that has been compared to both Georges Perec and Thomas Bernhard, Akerman writes out what she calls ”the black sun of depression,” but also what Iman Mohammed, in her afterword, calls ”a love that not even death can extinguish.” Min mamma skrattar is published with support from the Cartesius Foundation, the Holger and Thyra Lauritzen Foundation for the promotion of film-historical work, and the Direction des Lettres, Ministère de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Swedish edition

Translator: Benjamin Wagner
Afterword: Iman Mohammed
Editor and graphic design: Filmögon
Publication year: 2026

Original title: Ma mère rit, Chantal Akerman

About the author

Chantal Akerman (1950–2015) was a Belgian filmmaker, writer and artist. From her debut Saute ma ville (1968) onwards, her work is marked by a tireless clarity in exploring estrangement, memory and sexuality. She has influenced generations of filmmakers, not least through her renowned way of working with time. Her best-known film is Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), but her work also includes the musical Golden Eighties (1986) and the documentary trilogy D'Est (1993), Sud (1999) and De l'autre côté (2002).

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