This beautifully captured time capsule of 1970s New York City is Akerman’s most elegantly minimalist and profoundly affecting meditation on dislocation and estrangement.

Over a series of exactingly composed shots of Manhattan, the filmmaker reads letters sent by her mother years earlier. A tender meditation on urban alienation and personal disconnection.

This May, QFT celebrates one of cinema's mavericks with a season dedicated to filmmaker Chantal Akerman, the first female director to take the number one spot on Sight & Sound's Greatest Films of All Time poll.