Agnès Varda: Director's Inspiration

Published with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, this volume is the first English-language visual showcase for Varda's inspirations, art, and personal life, drawing on original materials from her personal archive on rue Daguerre. The book covers Varda's three lives as photographer, filmmaker, and visual artist, and features a previously unpublished interview she gave to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on the eve of receiving her Honorary Oscar in 2017. Essays by Sasha Archibald and film critic Peter Debruge examine facets of her creative lives, while personal reflections from friends and colleagues illuminate what it was like to collaborate with her.

Although closely associated with the French New Wave, Agnès Varda (1928–2019) established her groundbreaking visual style in her 1955 debut La Pointe Courte, well before other movement milestones. Her expansive oeuvre includes Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985), and the Academy Award–nominated Faces Places (2017), made with photographer and muralist JR, for which she also received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 2018.