Agnes Varda From Here to There 2012
Distributed by Cinema Guild, 115 West 30th Street, Suite 800, New York, NY 10001; 212-685-6242
Produced by Kudos Film and Television
Directed by Agnes Varda
DVD, color, 225 min.
Sr. High - General Adult
Art, Films, Travel and Tourism
Date Entered: 09/18/2014
Reviewed by Tom Ipri, Drexel UniversityAgnes Varda, best know for directing the films Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and The Gleaners and I (2000), directs and stars in the five part series Agnes Varda: From Here to There. Varda travels across the globe meeting with a variety of artists working in diverse media to discuss their inspirations, processes, and lives.
Among others, she visits with fellow filmmakers Carlos Reygadas in Mexico and Manoel de Oliveira in Portugal. She visits experimental director Chris Marker who declines to be on camera but Varda is given access to his workspace shedding as much light on his life and work than an interview might. She visits artists Miguel Barcelo and Annette Messager, sculptor Christian Boltanski, and designer Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Agnes Varda: From Here to There is a fascinating series not only because of the access she has to other artists but also because of her genuine curiosity about them and her clearly apparent and infectious joy in discovering new works of art. Part travelogue, part treatise on art and part Varda biography, Agnes Varda: From Here to There is an essential documentary for any art or film collection. Broken up as it is into five 45 minute parts, the film can easily be adapted for classroom use.