www.frenchcinema4d.com

The innovative films of Agnes Varda are as stunning in concept as they are in actualization. Pre-dating the French New Wave movement and joining comrades in the Rive Gauche cinema movement, she experiments with art and cinema while addressing issues of feminism, social conflicts, and multiculturalism.

Having been born as a mix between her French mother and Greek father, Agnes grew to become a world-renowned artist of truth. Having recently turned 81, her documentary style focuses on realism and gritty issues while still managing to confound and awe audiences across borders. In fact, her particular demands of multicultural interaction in film seem to destroy borders, rather than merely talk about them from some distant podium.

Who could ever forget Clo de 5 7, her first breathtaking film in 1962? She explores the intrigues of death and hope with the French singer Cleo and the young soldier she meets, on his way to Algeria. It is genuinely possible to experience the French life in a foreign style while gaining an abject look into the world beyond any other. Why? Because, Agnes Varda has done it.

It can almost be said that rather than provide inspiration for questions, her life’s work and even her latest film, said to be the last, The Beaches of Agns lead her audiences to ask questions of themselves instead.