Varda by Agnès
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
press release: France | 2019 | DCP | 120 min.
Director: Agnès Varda
The final film from the late, beloved Agnès Varda is a characteristically playful, profound, and personal summation of the director’s own brilliant career. At once impish and wise, she acts as our spirit guide on a free-associative tour through her six-decade artistic journey, shedding new light on her films, photography, and recent installation works while offering her one-of-a-kind reflections on everything from filmmaking to feminism to aging. Suffused with the people, places, and things she loved— her late husband Jacques Demy, cats, colors, beaches, heart-shaped potatoes—this wonderfully idiosyncratic work of imaginative autobiography is a warmly human, touchingly bittersweet parting gift from one of cinema’s most luminous talents. Special introduction by noted Varda scholar and UW Madison Professor of Film Kelley Conway.
Premiere Showcase: Crafted with the same curatorial acuity we bring to our repertory series, the Premiere Showcase presents exciting new documentaries and feature films by contemporary directors that would otherwise have no theatrical venue in the area. In early 2020, we will present the final feature film from Agnès Varda, a new 3D documentary celebrating the choreography of Merce Cunningham, and the latest installment in Michael Apted’s celebrated Seven Up series of documentaries, among others.