Nouvelle Vague – Debuts From a Scene
Sun 4 - Sun 25 Jan
Richard Linklater’s latest feature, Nouvelle Vague, (opening here on Fri 30 Jan) offers up a playful and poignant love letter to cinema, recreating the making of Jean Luc-Godard’s groundbreaking 1960 debut film, Breathless. To tie in with its release we’re diving back into the emergence of the French New Wave and its freewheeling filmmaking spirit, presenting this short season of debut features that set everything in motion.
From François Truffaut’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story The 400 Blows, to Jacques Demy’s bittersweet ode to first love and missed opportunities Lola, and Jacques Rivette’s under-seen and elaborately choreographed Paris Belongs to Us. Vive le cinéma!
P.S. If Agnès Varda feels conspicuous in her absence here then do keep an eye on the programme later on in the year for a rather special season...
Upcoming screenings in this season
The 400 Blows
classified PGSubtitled screening
An early classic of the French New Wave and possibly cinema’s defining masterpiece of disaffected youth, François Truffaut’s directorial debut The 400 Blows is the first in a cycle of four films that Truffaut eventually went on to direct that follow the life of Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud).
Breathless
classified 12ASubtitled screening
Jean-Luc Godard’s extraordinary debut feature was this iconoclastic crime film, which almost singlehandedly changed the face of French cinema and went on to inspire countless New Waves around the world.
Lola
classified PGSubtitled screening
Humane, wistful, and witty, Jacques Demy’s crystalline debut Lola is a testament to the resilience of the heartbroken.
Paris Belongs To Us
classified 12Subtitled screening
Paris Belongs To Us is the remarkable first feature from the great cinematic visionary Jacques Rivette, probably the least known of the major French New Wave directors.