Director Agnès Varda is getting ready to say goodbye

At the Berlin Film Festival where she presented her documentary “Varda by Agnès”, New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda said she was “slowing down” and “getting ready to say goodbye”. She announced that she would no longer lecture or interview one-on-one.

“I should stop talking about myself, and here I am, I have to prepare to say goodbye, to leave,” said Agnès Varda, at a press conference. “It’s just a matter of slowing down to find the necessary peace,” added the French filmmaker, who was asked if she was saying goodbye to the film.

A movie to say goodbye

His documentary “Varda by Agnès”, is in two parts in the form of a movie lesson. Agnès Varda looks back on her career of more than 60 years. It will be broadcast on March 18th on the television channel Arte in France. She talks about his inspirations and his work, the 20 thcentury in the first pane and from the 2000s in the second period it was more focused on the documentary and visual arts.

Film image & quot; Varda by Agnes & quot; presented at the Berlin Film Festival 2019.Image from the movie “Varda by Agnes” presented at the Berlin Film Festival 2019.

 © DR

“I’ve done a lot of lectures everywhere, at universities, film schools, all kinds of places, festivals, even small film clubs, and I thought I should do a movie now that’s like a conference, “she explained. This film is “a way to say goodbye, because I do not want to talk about my films anymore”, added the director, stating that “now, she would not accept to lecture anymore” or “to give interviews in head-to-head”.

“Women have conquered the field of cinema”

Agnès Varda, a pioneer woman for her time, returned to her directorial debut in 1954 with her first feature film “La Pointe courte”. “There were very few women directors,” she said. But “when I made this film, what interested me was not to say ‘I’m a female director’, it was to make a radical film,” she said. “Today, it is very important that women not only be directors, but cheffers operators, mixers, sound engineers, editors … Women have gradually conquered the field of cinema”, s’ she is congratulated.
The director of “Cléo de 5 à 7”, who led with actress Cate Blanchett a women’s march for equality at the last Cannes Film Festival, estimated however “half happy” with this operation, that she found “a little too chic cinema”. “It was beautiful women on beautiful stairs with beautiful dresses,” she said. “And it’s less effective sometimes than walking in the street or meeting.”

Source: La réalisatrice Agnès Varda se prépare “à dire au revoir”

When the French song takes folk colors: 6 young artists to discover

The new French scene has its roots in various Anglo-Saxon musical influences, be it rock, pop, rap. More and more, there are new artists who bring a folk color to their songs, as in their time Hugues Aufray, Graeme Allwright, Malicorne or Francis Cabrel. Overview of their heirs.

1 Leila and The Koalas – “In the mountains”

Originally from Rennes, the trio Leïla and The Koalas  mix Irish and French influences . The texts in both English and French are carried by typically folk and bluegrass arrangements (acoustic guitar, banjo and bass) inspired by the singer’s travels across the Atlantic. The themes are profoundly human, like this hymn to tolerance: “What I am”

And the voices harmonize beautifully, as for example on the sublime ” Everything ” or ” My Pa”. The last album “In the Mountains” was released in 2018 at “Allez là! Productions”. The group is currently on tour , and will come out of our borders to visit Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

2 Julie Meyer – “Fragile mood”

Intimate texts and melancholy, but never lead, this is what offers the young Toulouse Julie Meyer . The sober arrangements navigate between pop and folk. So the beautiful “Your songs resound” that makes you want to sit by the fireside. Continue reading “When the French song takes folk colors: 6 young artists to discover” →

Immersive Van Gogh Experience Arrives at Atelier des Lumières on February 22

New to the roster of immersive exhibitions at the Atelier des Lumières in Paris, Van Gogh, Starry Night takes visitors on a journey through Vincent Van Gogh’s prolific life and his sojourns in France and the Netherlands. From his early years to his later, radically different years, all of the impressionist painter’s landscapes, portraits, and still lives are on display. Van Gogh, Starry Night runs from February 22, 2019, until December 31, 2019.

Van Gogh’s numerous works, including The Potato Eaters (1885), Sunflowers (1888), Starry Night (1889), and Bedroom at Arles (1889), are projected on all surfaces of the Atelier, inviting viewers into a 360-degree view of the artist’s private world — highly emotional, chaotic, poetic. The impressionist is known for his expressive and powerful brushstrokes, use of bold colors, and interplay of light and shade. Accompanying the exhibition, and located in a “tank” in the center of the room, is a selection of Van Gogh’s famous paintings, with commentaries about the works and the museums in which they are displayed.

Visual and musical work are produced by Culturespaces and directed by Gianfranco Iannuzzi, Renato Gatto, and Massimiliano Siccardi.

Source: Immersive Van Gogh Experience Arrives at Atelier des Lumières on February 22 – Frenchly