Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

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Aunt Peg
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:30 am

Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#26 Post by Aunt Peg » Fri Mar 29, 2019 6:56 pm

swo17 wrote:
Fri Mar 29, 2019 11:21 am
Also Franco Zeffirelli, Bert Gordon, Peter Brook, Roger Corman, Toshio Masuda, Monte Hellman...

And you kind of have to recognize Kenneth Anger as well, who worked exclusively in shorts, started making them 78 years ago, and still walks the earth!
Good to know I was wrong. Thats still quiet a few really.

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Lemmy Caution
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
Location: East of Shanghai

Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#27 Post by Lemmy Caution » Sat Mar 30, 2019 2:16 am

Q: I heard Madonna was interested in remaking Cléo from 5 to 7.

Agnès Varda:
Madonna was touched by the story of Cléo [a story of a women waiting for a cancer diagnosis], and she asked a woman to adapt the screenplay for her. It was OK with me. But her mother had cancer and died, and she quit the project. If I had remade it in the US at the time, I thought it should be a black woman being afraid of Aids – in those years, Aids was such a terrible threat. I would have loved to make it with Whitney Houston.

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filmyfan
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:50 am

Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#28 Post by filmyfan » Sat Mar 30, 2019 10:51 am

RIP Agnes.

Only just found out this afternoon (and I work for a news company-not sure how that happened)

I was in Paris for a day recently and had planned to walk up her road ( i did go many years ago) and see her house but ran out of time.

Wish I had now,

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#29 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat Mar 30, 2019 11:34 am

A few years ago, we saw her house (from the outside) and visited her office. She wasn't around -- but we bought some DVDs from one of her film editors. ;-)

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LQ
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:51 am
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Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#30 Post by LQ » Sat Mar 30, 2019 3:33 pm

This one hurts so much. More than any other filmmaker, actor, cultural luminary, I loved Agnès Varda. As an artist, as a person, as an aspirational figure. It's been really nice to read all the personal stories and anecdotes about her impact on people's lives being shared around the web and Twitter; in A.O. Scott's appreciation, he describes her work forming a connection between director and viewer that feels like friendship, an opinion, clearly, a lot of people share.

Varda's work has definitely shaped my life and worldview, and has threaded in even some offbeat sartorial ways - Mfunk had a very talented fashion designer friend make a replica of the polka-dot dress Cléo wears in Cléo from 5 to 7 and gifted it to me for my college graduation, and a couple years later it was my (courthouse) wedding dress. And I wore it like a chump when mfunk and I had the pleasure of meeting her a number of years back when she came to Philadelphia for a retrospective of her work, and she very nicely acknowledged it. Our beloved black cat, Cléo, is nearing 11 years old. Knowing she's not just out there in the world doing her thing is so sad, but certainly that personal connection with her work that everyone has the capacity to make will forever live on.

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dustybooks
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:52 am
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Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#31 Post by dustybooks » Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:33 pm

That was a lovely post, thank you. The personal remembrances on this thread have been touching. For some reason I keep thinking of Varda singing along to “Ring My Bell” by Anita Ward in Faces Places, a moment that wasn’t cliched “dotty old lady” comic relief but an unguarded portrait of someone absolutely full of life and love.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#32 Post by Calvin » Sun Mar 31, 2019 4:52 pm

This is the first time in a few years that I felt genuine emotion over an artist's passing, but I loved Varda's work and in her public appearances she had the aura of a lovable grandmother that I would have loved to have met and, although I was aware of her age, hoped that I one day would. I've yet to see Varda by Agnès, but Faces Places was wondrous, playful and inventive; she seemed to have an eternally youthful spirit, continuing the vibrancy of the Nouvelle Vague to the present day.

I'm looking forward to seeing Varda by Agnès, which I've only heard good things about. Hopefully there will be a Blu-Ray re-issue of Tout(e) Varda for us to continue to enjoy and share her work.

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BenoitRouilly
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2018 5:49 pm

Re: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)

#33 Post by BenoitRouilly » Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:28 am

Far from ideal but ARTE put up on their YouTube channel Varda par Agnès - Causerie 1 & 2 (in French)
1st part : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBz7cIOwEUw
2nd part : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_4e4As05js

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