Agnes Varda
| Agnès Varda | |
|---|---|
Varda receiving an honour at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, 2010
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| Born |
30 May 1928 Ixelles, Belgium |
| Occupation | Director, screenwriter, editor, actor, producer, installation artist, photographer |
| Years active | 1955–present |
| Notable work | Cleo de 5 a 7, La Pointe Courte, Vagabond |
| Spouse(s) | Jacques Demy (1962–1990; his death) |
| Children | Rosalie Varda Mathieu Demy |
Agnès Varda (French: [aɲɛs vaʁda]; born 30 May 1928) is a film director who was born in Belgium, but has spent most of her working life in France. Her films, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary with a distinct experimental style.
Film historians have cited Varda's work as central to the development of the French New Wave film movement; her uses of location shooting and non-professional actors were unconventional in the context of 1950s French cinema.
Varda was born Arlette Varda on May 30, 1928, in Ixelles (Brussels), Belgium, the daughter of Christiane (née Pasquet) and Eugène Jean Varda, an engineer. Her mother was French and her father came from a family of Greek refugees from Asia Minor. She was the middle of five children. When she was 18 Varda legally changed her name to Agnès. When she was a teenager, she left Belgium in 1940 and fled to Sète, France to live with the rest of her family. She studied art history and photography at the École des Beaux-Arts. She went on to work for the Théâtre National Populaire as a photographer.
Varda is a significant figure in modern French cinema. Her career pre-dates the start of the Nouvelle vague (French New Wave), and La Pointe Courte contains many elements specific to that movement. In an interview with The Believer, Varda stated that she wanted to make films that related to her time (in reference to La Pointe Courte), rather than focusing on traditions or classical standards. In 1977, Varda founded her own production company, Cine-Tamaris, in order to have more control in shooting and editing.
In 2013, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art held Varda's first U.S. exhibition called "Agnes Varda in Californialand." The exhibition featured a sculptural installation, several photographs, and short films, and was inspired by time she spent in Los Angeles in the 1960s.
The French New Wave movement was broken into two subgroups: the Cahiers du Cinema group and the Left Bank Cinema group.
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