The Beaches of Agnes
Synopsis
A reflection on art, life and the movies, The Beaches of Agnes is a magnificent film from the great Agnes Varda, director of The Gleaners and I and Cleo from 5 to 7, a richly cinematic self portrait that touches on everything from the feminist movement and the Black Panthers to the films of husband Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and the birth of the French New Wave.
Schedule
Credits
Agnes Varda
Agnès Varda was a French photographer, filmmaker, and installation artist. Known for her political and feminist films, she was the only female director to emerge out of French New Wave cinema and is considered a founder of the movement. Born Arlette Varda on May 30, 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium, Varda moved to France at 18 where she studied art history at the École du Louvre and photography at the École des Beaux-Arts working as a photographer at the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris.
She made more than 30 films during her lifetime, including 1962’s Cléo from 5 to 7, a milestone of the new wave that cemented her career. She also was a photography and presented her works at LACMA, the Fondation Cartier in Paris, and the Biennale de Lyon. In 2017, she released Moments: Faces of a Journey, a documentary that she co-directed with graffiti artist, JR, during a road trip across rural France. It premiered to critical acclaim in Cannes and received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature in 2018. Varda died on March 29, 2019 in Paris, France at the age of 90.
