“Many of the great directors from the very start of film—such as Charlie Chaplin and Erich von Stroheim—also star in their own movies, but the overt arts of self-portraiture and autobiography are rare in the cinema. Agnès Varda’s THE BEACHES OF AGNES, from 2008, brings together those fundamentally divergent impulses: the desire to tell the story of her life in more or less chronological order, to depict herself as she was at the time of the filming (on the eve of her eightieth birthday), to consider her own works, and to bring together the people she loves, whether in person or in memory. The result is her most audacious and original film—one for which she devised a distinctive form that starts out from the theatrical premise that she is, in effect, playing herself, and that makes use of elaborate stagecraft to bring inner and outer life into view.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker

For the post-screening Q&A, we’re joined by acclaimed filmmaker John Walter (Theater of War), who’s previously come to STF to share his insights into films such as A Man Vanishes and F For Fake.

This presentation coincides a presentation of “Agnes Varda and Personal Cinema” curated by Thom Powers this month on Sundance NOW Doc Club.

Co-presented with French Institute Alliance Française.