Legendary filmmaker Agnes Varda, one of the key figures of the French 'New Wave' movement of the '60s, has died aged 90, her family have announced in a statement.
In a career lasting a half century, the Belgian-born director created a unique body of work, encompassing narrative feature films, documentaries and cinematic essays, often featuring Varda herself. In 2017 she became the oldest ever Oscar nominee, aged 89, for her acclaimed documentary Faces Places - the same year she received a Honorary Award from the Academy for Lifetime Achievement:
The family statement read: The director and artist Agnès Varda died at her home on the night of Thursday, March 29, of complications from cancer. She was surrounded by her family and friends."
Agnes Varda. We will always love you. You and your films will never be forgotten. Thank you for everything. https://t.co/lL6WdNaxbR
— Carol Morley (@_CarolMorley) March 29, 2019
Often cited as a feminist trailblazer, Varda's film Cléo de 5 à 7, an experimental 'real-time' portrait of a singer awaiting test results, is a key work of the French New Wave. Other key works includes Vagabond (1984), an acclaimed portrait of a young drifter, which won the Golden Lion at Venice, as well as a César Award for best actress for Sandrine Bonnaire, and Jacquot de Nantes (1991), a documentary about her husband, fellow filmmaker Jacques Demy, who died in 1990.
Immense sadness. For almost 65 years, Agnès Varda’s eyes and voice embodied cinema with endless inventiveness. The place she occupied is irreplaceable. Agnès loved images, words and people. She’s one of those whose youth will never fade. pic.twitter.com/cpquJXJtwK
— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) March 29, 2019
Gilles Jacob, the former president of the Cannes Film Festival, wrote on Twitter that Varda’s films "are our treasure. A national treasure: that of the French spirit."
"In my films I always wanted to make people see deeply. I don't want to show things, but to give people the desire to see."
— Curzon (@CurzonCinemas) March 29, 2019
Agnès Varda (1928 - 2019), a true original from first to last. pic.twitter.com/wTsqQsdqll
