Humorous and illuminating autobiography from Agnès Varda, the lone female among French New Wave directors. “Inspiring… this film should be given to all young hopeful filmmakers.” — Sight & Sound
Playful and lucid, the film gives the heartening impression of endless hunger for people, experiences and images, of the cameras privileged ability to capture lived life
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
The Beaches of Agnès 2008
Les Plages d'Agnès
Agnès Varda was the lone female amongst the New Wave directors who shook up French cinema and helped set the agenda for the cultural revolution of the 60s. At almost 80 she has created a playfully idiosyncratic memoir of her sentimental education and life as an artist. Responding eagerly to the possibilities offered by digital technology, she sets up tableaux that recall her earlier work and places herself within her old photographs and extracts from her films (Vagabond, The Gleaners and I and many more). She revisits old haunts to reminisce fondly with collaborators she's not seen for decades. She discusses the years spent with her husband/soulmate, the late Jacques Demy, her feminism, her romantic adventures and the rewards of independence. It's an illuminating account of a wonderfully full life and the best possible proof of her perpetual, instinctive reinvention of herself as an artist. — BG
“She is such an inspiring and creative presence - this film should be given to all young hopeful film-makers.” — Lizzie Francke, Sight & Sound