Agnès Varda

Agnès Varda (1928–2019) was a Belgian filmmaker and photographer based in France. One of the greatest icons of French experimental cinema, Agnès was born in the bilingual commune of Ixelles, in Brussels, to a French mother and a Greek father. She moved to France to study at the Université de Paris, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Literature and Psychology, although she did not enjoy life in the Parisian metropolis during that period. At the age of 25, she began her film career by directing the experimental feature film La Pointe Courte (1954), starring Philippe Noiret and Silvia Montfort. The film was a critical success, earning praise from the renowned critic and theorist André Bazin for its ‘free and pure’ style. In 1961, Varda directed what is perhaps her most famous work, Cléo from 5 to 7, which depicts an hour and a half in the life of a young woman who believes she has cancer. The film was selected for the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.

In the decades that followed, she directed several short films and documentaries, whilst also devoting herself to installations and new forms of artistic expression. Her style became known for its realism, experimentation and strong social conscience. Agnès attended the second edition of EXPRMNTL in 1958, during the Brussels World’s Fair. On that occasion, she screened her feature film La Pointe Courte and the short film L’Opéra-Mouffe (1958), which was awarded the Prix de la Fédération Internationale des Ciné-clubs. Over the years, she maintained a close friendship with Jacques Ledoux and the Cinématèque royale de Belgique.