Filmmaker Varda to speak at symposium

One of the world’s leading filmmakers, Agnès Varda, will be the guest of honor at a landmark international symposium devoted to her work, Oct. 3-5.

The conference, entitled “Landscape and Portrait: Agnès Varda’s Cinematic Geographies,” will be held at UW–Madison and feature noted film scholars from Europe and United States, as well as many of Varda’s most important films.

In addition, the UW Cinemathèque is programming a retrospective of Varda’s films in conjunction with the symposium, beginning Friday, Sept. 13.

Both the conference and free public film series will provide a rare opportunity for fans and scholars of French cinema since many of these films are not in distribution in the United States.

Varda is a key figure in modern film history as well as one of the most innovative filmmakers working today. From her first film, La Pointe Courte (1954), which anticipated France’s groundbreaking “New Wave” cinema, to her most recent work, Varda has consistently experimented and won international praise from critics and the public alike.

Trained in art and photography, Varda has worked continuously in both fiction and documentary filmmaking, often mixing documentary realism, social commentary and astonishing formal beauty in the same works. The author of some 30 films, she is best known for such films as “Cleo from 5 to 7,” which established her as a feminist filmmaker.

Varda will participate in the symposium investigating and honoring her career. One of the highlights of the conference will be a talk by Varda, “Outside/Inside,” Friday, Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Stage Door/Orpheum Theatre, 216 State St. Varda’s “Documenteur: An emotion-picture” will also be shown.

The conference will feature talks Oct. 4-5 from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St. Afternoon and evening sessions, including film showings, will be in 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave.

The conference is sponsored by the UW–Madison’s Department of Communication Arts, Cinemathèque, International Institute, and European Studies Alliance. Additional support has been provided by the Anonymous Fund, the UW Lectures Committee, and the Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.