Video Maker - USA (2019-06)

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36 VIDEOMAKER >>> JUNE 2019

Varda’s death was confirmed by a spokesperson

for her production company, Ciné-Tamaris. Her

death was caused by breast cancer. She passed

away in her home in Paris on March 29th, 2019.

It’s not an overstatement to say that Varda’s

life career in the film industry was ground-

breaking. One of the key figures behind that

French New Wave in the 1960s, her career

brought us many films like “Cleo from 5 to 7”,

“Le Bonheur” and “The Creatures.”

Varda was also the first female director to

win an honorary Oscar in 2017. Last year, she

was the oldest nominee ever for a competitive

Oscar. Her film,“Faces Places,” was up for Best

Documentary. It chronicals her adventures in

France with photographer and muralist JR.

Early years

Born Arlette Varda on May 30, 1928, in Ixelles,

Belgium, she left her home with her fam-

ily when she was a teenager to live in Sète,

France in 1940. Then at 18, she changed her

name to Agnès.

Varda studied art history at the École du

Louvre and photography at the École des Beaux-

Arts. She afterwards would work as a photogra-

pher at the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris,

not yet working in film.

“I just didn’t see films when I was young,” she

said in a 2009 interview. “I was stupid and naïve.

Maybe I wouldn’t have made films if I had seen

by Sean Berry

Agnès Varda, leader of French New Wave, has passed away

The career of Agnès Varda was groundbreaking. Varda, a French film-

maker at the center of the New Wave, passed away in March at the

age of 90.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

lots of others; maybe it would have

stopped me.” Varda went on to say

that she was “totally free and crazy

and innocent” when she started in

films. In her later years, she wanted to

keep a “certain level of quality” to her

films. “I don’t do commercials, I don’t

do films pre-prepared by other people,

I don’t do star system. So I do my own

little thing,” she said.

Agnès Varda established herself

as an icon

Before Varda became the icon she is

today, she was making dramatic films.

It was those early dramatic films that

helped Varda become a leading femi-

nist and a cinematic master. Examples

of her dramatic features include “Cléo

From 5 to 7” (1962) and “Le Bonheur”

(1965). Both the works focused on

dark and dramatic subjects. “Cléo

From 5 to 7” focused a pop singer

Image courtesy independent.co.uk.

Agnès Varda on “Visages Villages”.

Agnès Varda doing her own little thing.

Image courtesy Cineart.

Image courtesy Ciné Tamaris.

385 D15 Stories from the field.indd 36 4/23/19 2:05 PM

VIDEOMAKER >>> JUNE 2019 37

Sean Berry is a blogger and Videomaker Contrib-

uting Editor.

lots of others; maybe it would have

stopped me.” Varda went on to say

that she was “totally free and crazy

and innocent” when she started in

films. In her later years, she wanted to

keep a “certain level of quality” to her

films. “I don’t do commercials, I don’t

do films pre-prepared by other people,

I don’t do star system. So I do my own

little thing,” she said.

Agnès Varda established herself

as an icon

Before Varda became the icon she is

today, she was making dramatic films.

It was those early dramatic films that

helped Varda become a leading femi-

nist and a cinematic master. Examples

of her dramatic features include “Cléo

From 5 to 7” (1962) and “Le Bonheur”

(1965). Both the works focused on

dark and dramatic subjects. “Cléo

From 5 to 7” focused a pop singer

Agnès Varda on “Visages Villages”.

waiting for the results of a cancer ex-

amination and “Le Bonheur” focused

on an affair.

However, it was “La Pointe Courte”

(1955) that established Varda as a

central figure in the French New Wave

cinematic movement.

She valued working on films that

involved walking the line between

being the commonly accepted fiction

and nonfiction and breaking the defi-

nition of gender at the time.

“She was a person of immense tal-

ent, but also enormously thoughtful,”

said Mr. Kline of Boston University.

“When you look at some of the films

you might think they were more

spontaneous than thought out. A film

like ‘Cléo,’ for instance, you might

have said, ‘O.K., she just follows Cléo

around Paris,’ but the film is extremely

beautifully imagined and thought out

beforehand.”

While Agnès Varda may be gone,

her work and its impact on the world

stays and will live on.

You can comment on this article by going online:

http://www.videomaker.com/?p=72011939

“SHE WAS A PERSON OF

IMMENSE TALENT, BUT

ALSO ENORMOUSLY

THOUGHTFUL.”

Image courtesy Cineart.

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