Agnès Varda: The Gleaners and I

Agnès Varda, the only female director of the French New-Wave is often considered an auteur par excellence not only because she wrote, produced, directed, distributed and acted in her own films, but especially for the profound self-reflexivity of her cinematography and narrative voice. When questioned about her unique ability to capture with the same intensity both major historical events and the everyday life of her neighborhood, she replied “films are more than just poetry, they are full-on spectacles.” Studying and researching Varda’s cinema today pays tribute to the woman whose work challenged mainstream worldviews and continues to inspire filmmakers to create films that transform what is invisible into the unforgettable. 

Speaker Bio: 

Leonard Cortana (Guadeloupe/France) is a P.hD Candidate at the Cinema Studies Department at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and works as an Adjunct Instructor in International and French Film History. He is also a filmmaker currently screening a short…