21/04/2010

The British Film Institute (BFI) is celebrating the work of Agnès Varda, popularly known as the “Godmother of the New Wave”, by programming a near-complete retrospective of her films (April 30-May 31) at the BFI Southbank.

Though Claude Chabrol’s Le Beau Serge (1958) was usually credited as the first film of the New Wave (Nouvelle Vague), it is Varda’s role as true pioneer of the movement with La Pointe Courte (1955) that is now being acknowledged. Her masterpiece features – including Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) and Vagabond (1985) – and documentaries such as The Gleaners and I (2000) and The Beaches of Agnès [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2009), place her firmly among the major post-war French filmmakers.

In addition to her films, the BFI season will include an on-stage interview, a course held with King’s College London entitled Varda and Her Sisters, plus a Screen Epiphany when she will introduce Fellini’s Amarcord (1973).

BFI Head Programmer Geoff Andrew said, “Agnès Varda is undoubtedly a filmmaker of major international importance and influence, having anticipated by several years many of the innovations of the nouvelle vague and having continued, for more than half a century, to contribute thought-provoking and artistically rich works in both fiction and non-fiction.

"Following her autobiographical essay film The Beaches of Agnès it is timely for us too to look back over her long and distinguished career by presenting a comprehensive retrospective of her work. In this way we can not only increase awareness in Britain of her work, but enhance people's enjoyment and understanding of that oeuvre by making those films available in good prints upon the big screen.”