VIVA VARDA: THE FILMS OF AGNÈS VARDA
This September, we celebrate the incomparable Agnès Varda—visionary, icon, and grand-mère of the French Nouvelle Vague. Though often hailed as the movement’s grandmother, Varda stood apart from its cinephile nucleus, aligning instead with the Left Bank circle of artists and intellectuals who infused cinema with literary depth, experimental daring, and documentary insight. Her films carve out a space wholly her own—at once political and playful, meticulously crafted yet overflowing with curiosity and warmth.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, she didn’t come to cinema through cinephilia, but through photography, literature, art, music, and life itself. Throughout her 60-year career, Varda focused her lens on the overlooked, the intimate, the political, and the poetic. Her work often centered on female subjectivity, the margins of society, and the tactile pleasures of everyday life—whether filming real people, heart-shaped potatoes, or sun-drenched walls covered in murals. “I love filming real people,” she once said, “I love to connect with the kind of people we don’t know so well.”
To paraphrase Martin Scorsese: “Varda was one of the gods of cinema.” This retrospective is a chance to experience her gaze—tender, radical, and unlike anything else in film history.
Please note that all screenings will be accompanied by English subtitles.