"Proceeding chronologically, from the beginning of Varda's career in the 1950s to the present, this book focuses on moments where Varda's invocation of different artistic traditions within film opens onto complex commentary on broader aesthetic, theoretical, feminist, and political discussions. I reinterpret some of her best known films, but also focus attention on other less familiar works that merit further consideration. I reassess individual works with the goal of interrogating Varda's visual dialogues to reconstruct the cultural politics of the periods in which they were made. This process of reading new strands of meaning across Varda's oeuvre relies on a richly interdisciplinary approach. The result is a new cultural history of Varda and her work that makes clear how she actively engaged and subtly broadened some of the most advanced aesthetic and political discourse of her day. Many of Varda's sophisticated commentaries on controversial issues of her time have receded from view in the biographical frameworks in which her work often has been considered. The range of her engagement in her work with cinema, art history, photography, and visual culture has not been fully recognized. This decontextualization of Varda's work has been compounded by the frequent emphasis on her exceptionality within her fields of practice. In contrast, I view Varda's work as a projection of cultural history that illuminates multiple disciplines, including art history, cinema studies, visual culture, and modern French history"--Provided by publisher.

Agnès Varda, a pioneer of the French New Wave, has been making radical films for over half a century. Many of these are considered by scholars, filmmakers, and audiences alike, as audacious, seminal, and unforgettable. This volume considers her production as a whole, revisiting overlooked films like Mur, Murs/Documenteur (1980–81), and connecting her cinema to recent installation work. This study demonstrates how Varda has resisted norms of representation and diktats of production. It also shows how she has elaborated a personal repertoire of images, characters, and settings, which all provide insight on their cultural and political contexts. The book thus offers new readings of this director's multifaceted rêveries, arguing that her work should be seen as an aesthetically influential and ethically-driven production where cinema is both a political and collaborative practice, and a synesthetic art form.

Collected interviews with the French filmmaker who is sometimes called the "Mother of the New Wave"

"This account of photography and cinema shows how the two media are not separate but in fact have influenced each other since their inception. David Campany explores photographers on screen, photographic and filmic stillness, photographs in film, the influence of photography on cinema, and the photographer as a filmmaker"--OCLC

This special issue recognizes the work and legacy of Agnès Varda (1928-2019), a Belgian-born film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist whose work was part of the French New Wave film movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the wake of Varda's passing in March 2019, contributors offer reflections on the continued relevance of her work. Until the end of her life, Varda was engaged with feminism, ethics, politics, and the representation of women in the film industry. Rather than focusing on Varda's most famous films, the contributors to this issue consider aspects of her oeuvre that have contemporary relevance and those that point to the future: films, art installations, and photographs that have received less scholarly attention; her political activism; her role as manager of her own production company; and her Instagram presence. By emphasizing these often-overlooked elements of Varda's creative output, the contributors reveal the depth of her artistic legacy and demonstrate how vastly important and interconnected her entire body of work is. Contributors Dominique Bluher, Nadine Boljkovac, Kelley Conway, Rebecca J. DeRoo, Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, Colleen Kennedy-Karpat, Homay King, Matt St. John, Emma Wilson

Agnès Varda, one of the major French filmmakers for the last forty years is here celebrated and situated by Alison Smith, by examining both the early films and the later successes, such as Sans Toit ni Loi (1985), Jane B. par Agnès V. (1987) and Jacquot de Nantes (1991). Smith considers Varda’s films in the light of her constant attention to film form, and proposes an integrated analysis of several major themes in her work, through a detailed study of her best-known or most significant films, which are then set in context against her lesser-known, but very extensive, oeuvre. The themes cover such issues as representation of place and community, representation of women and the use of memory, and are linked by a common concern with the process by which Varda transforms reality into constructed films. They owe their form to the combined subjectivity’s of the filmmaker, the subjects filmed, and the audience.

These essays discuss not just when, but also how and why, Varda's renewed artistic forms have ignited with such creative force, and have been so inspiring an influence. The volume concludes with two remarkable interviews: one with Varda herself, and another with Corinne Marchand.

This remarkable book brings you face-to-face with an incredible selection of pioneering women who have reshaped the creative industries. From legendary visual artists Yoko Ono and Tracey Emin, to groundbreaking musicians like Annie Lennox and Debbie Harry, to fashion giants such as Miuccia Prada and Diane von Fürstenberg, this collection of original interviews and Polaroid photographs of almost 30 trailblazing women spans creative industries, nationalities and generations to bring together a never-before- published collection of leading voices. Featuring an astounding range of names including FKA Twigs, Isabelle Huppert and Rei Kawakubo, this book creates both a portrait of each individual woman and – collectively – a powerful portrait of the impact of women on the creative industries. Each pioneering creative is interviewed and photographed by the Mexican artist Hugo Huerta Marin. The women speak openly with Huerta Marin about their challenges and joys; their vulnerabilities and their triumphs. Cate Blanchett reflects on the differences between acting on stage and in film; Marina AbramoviÐ discusses her most radical piece of performance art; Annie Lennox reminisces about London in the 1970s; Carrie Mae Weems discusses the relationship between race and photography —these and other conversations are further brought to life by Huerta Marin’s candid, intimate Polaroid images. These photographs, which allow readers to lock eyes with their subjects, reflect the natural tone of each conversation, allowing the reader rare insight into the lives of these renowned artists. Inspiring and revealing, this collection of interviews and photographs gives readers an unparalleled connection with some of the most fascinating women working in the arts today.

Explores impact of 3 women filmmakers on French films

From New Yorker film critic Richard Brody, Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard presents a "serious-minded and meticulously detailed . . . account of the lifelong artistic journey" of one of the most influential filmmakers of our age (The New York Times). When Jean-Luc Godard wed the ideals of filmmaking to the realities of autobiography and current events, he changed the nature of cinema. Unlike any earlier films, Godard's work shifts fluidly from fiction to documentary, from criticism to art. The man himself also projects shifting images—cultural hero, fierce loner, shrewd businessman. Hailed by filmmakers as a—if not the—key influence on cinema, Godard has entered the modern canon, a figure as mysterious as he is indispensable. In Everything Is Cinema, critic Richard Brody has amassed hundreds of interviews to demystify the elusive director and his work. Paying as much attention to Godard's technical inventions as to the political forces of the postwar world, Brody traces an arc from the director's early critical writing, through his popular success with Breathless, to the grand vision of his later years. He vividly depicts Godard's wealthy conservative family, his fluid politics, and his tumultuous dealings with women and fellow New Wave filmmakers. Everything Is Cinema confirms Godard's greatness and shows decisively that his films have left their mark on screens everywhere.