AGNÈS VARDA
"In my films, I always wanted to make people see deeply. I don't want to show things, but to give people the desire to see."
--Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda began her career as a photojournalist, and in 1954 - with little knowledge of filmmaking - she wrote and directed her first film, La Pointe Courte (1954). In terms of structure and aesthetics thi low-budget feature can be seen as a precursor to the French New Wave cinema championed by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. A long and varied filmography followed, including left-wing political films like Loin du Vietnam (1967, made in collaboration with Chris Marker, Alain Renais and others) or Black Panthers (1970), and feminist films such as Cléo de 5 à 7 (1961), Le Bonheur (1964), L'Une chante, l'autre pas (1977) and Sans toi ni loi (1985). Whether taking the form of fiction or documentary, her films observe and document reality whilst experimenting with formal concerns.
For her recent documentary, Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse (The Gleaners and I, 2000), Varda used a mini digital camera to focus on an age-old practice - the scouring of reaped fields for leftover wheat or potatoes. In this way she created a portrait of modern day gleaners, who find a use for society's cast-offs either through necessity or activism. What emerges is a vision of capitalism and urban life that is both critical and humane.
While making her documentary, Varda came across many heart shaped potatoes. She used this material in her first project created for a contemporary art context, a triple-film installation entitled Patatutopia (2003) and shown at the 50th Venice Biennale. The trio of short films, also featuring Varda herself, were projected into a space in which 700 kilos of potatoes slowly germinated, accompanied by a live performance; dressed in a latex potato costume, Varda read off the names of potato varieties and encouraged viewers to enter the installation. This unusual homage to the potato speaks with tenderness of the utopian hope and possibility for social consciousness that can be inspired by even the most modest and banal of vegetables.
http://www.indiewire.com/people/int_Varda_Agnes_010308.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/9384/directors/varda.htm
http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/varda.html
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800103328&cf=gen&intl=us
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/varda.html
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800103328&cf=gen&intl=us
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/varda.html
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/varda.html
http://www4.cca.gov.tw/movie/cinema/women/women_02.htm
http://www.wmw.com.tw/rainbow/film%20intro/f-con.htm
http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/news/joshua/3/1237417467/20040412113548/
http://www4.cca.gov.tw/movie/festivals/woman_08.htm
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2001/new/may/23/life/article-1.htm
http://www.wmw.com.tw/rainbow/agnesvarda/a-content.htm
Born 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium
Patatutopia, 2003
Triple film installation
"Dame Patate" costume
Triple film installation
"Dame Patate" costume
"In my films, I always wanted to make people see deeply. I don't want to show things, but to give people the desire to see."
--Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda began her career as a photojournalist, and in 1954 - with little knowledge of filmmaking - she wrote and directed her first film, La Pointe Courte (1954). In terms of structure and aesthetics thi low-budget feature can be seen as a precursor to the French New Wave cinema championed by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. A long and varied filmography followed, including left-wing political films like Loin du Vietnam (1967, made in collaboration with Chris Marker, Alain Renais and others) or Black Panthers (1970), and feminist films such as Cléo de 5 à 7 (1961), Le Bonheur (1964), L'Une chante, l'autre pas (1977) and Sans toi ni loi (1985). Whether taking the form of fiction or documentary, her films observe and document reality whilst experimenting with formal concerns.
For her recent documentary, Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse (The Gleaners and I, 2000), Varda used a mini digital camera to focus on an age-old practice - the scouring of reaped fields for leftover wheat or potatoes. In this way she created a portrait of modern day gleaners, who find a use for society's cast-offs either through necessity or activism. What emerges is a vision of capitalism and urban life that is both critical and humane.
While making her documentary, Varda came across many heart shaped potatoes. She used this material in her first project created for a contemporary art context, a triple-film installation entitled Patatutopia (2003) and shown at the 50th Venice Biennale. The trio of short films, also featuring Varda herself, were projected into a space in which 700 kilos of potatoes slowly germinated, accompanied by a live performance; dressed in a latex potato costume, Varda read off the names of potato varieties and encouraged viewers to enter the installation. This unusual homage to the potato speaks with tenderness of the utopian hope and possibility for social consciousness that can be inspired by even the most modest and banal of vegetables.
http://www.indiewire.com/people/int_Varda_Agnes_010308.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/9384/directors/varda.htm
http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/varda.html
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800103328&cf=gen&intl=us
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/varda.html
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800103328&cf=gen&intl=us
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/varda.html
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/varda.html
http://www4.cca.gov.tw/movie/cinema/women/women_02.htm
http://www.wmw.com.tw/rainbow/film%20intro/f-con.htm
http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/news/joshua/3/1237417467/20040412113548/
http://www4.cca.gov.tw/movie/festivals/woman_08.htm
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2001/new/may/23/life/article-1.htm
http://www.wmw.com.tw/rainbow/agnesvarda/a-content.htm