Viva Varda!

From her first lesbian love to her final breath, in just over 60 minutes, this documentary by Pierre-Henri Gibert tells the life of Agnès Varda, the grandmother of the French New Wave, who was honored with the Joseph Plateau Honorary Award by FFG in 2006. He intersperses film clips from her extensive filmography with archival material and testimonies from her children and closest collaborators. The social consciousness and anti-snobbery that strongly underpin her work oddly collide with the idea that, like a savvy and visionary marketing director, she staged and multiplied herself, ultimately achieving tremendous success in a later phase of her career. It primarily reflects the surrealism and humor with which she captured comical scenes around her since her early short films, touching more than one (potato) heart along the way.

"Varda was a pioneer of personal cinema. What is left to explore in her life that she didn’t cover herself? It turns out there’s quite a lot. Giber chronicles her expansive career, embodying her curiosity and whimsy, but filling in notable gaps from films such as The Beaches of Agnès and Varda by Agnès." - TIFF