In “Origin,” Ava DuVernay weaves a centuries- and continents-spanning narrative feature around the ideas of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson, who rejects the word “racism.” It’s not that she doesn’t believe that racism exists; rather, she doesn’t think that racism alone can explain the inequity in human society — the way America’s founders could have written “all men are created equal” and meant something so different.
As Isabel (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who is gearing up to tackle “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” having already written “The Warmth of Other Suns,” puts it to her editor (Blair Underwood), “Racism as the primary language to understand everything is insufficient.” And later, to her sister (Niecy Nash-Betts) over a plate of barbecue ribs: “We have to consider oppression in a way that does not centralize race.”
The book “Caste” was Wilkerson’s answer to that challenge, drawing connections between discrimination...
As Isabel (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who is gearing up to tackle “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” having already written “The Warmth of Other Suns,” puts it to her editor (Blair Underwood), “Racism as the primary language to understand everything is insufficient.” And later, to her sister (Niecy Nash-Betts) over a plate of barbecue ribs: “We have to consider oppression in a way that does not centralize race.”
The book “Caste” was Wilkerson’s answer to that challenge, drawing connections between discrimination...
- 9/6/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
At the start of Jane B. par Agnès V., a 1988 documentary made about singer and actress Jane Birkin by, well, the French director Agnès Varda, Birkin sits in period dress and looks directly at the camera with her characteristic deadpan expression. She talks about the nausea she feels when she looks at herself in the mirror and sees the signs of aging on her body. She has just turned 40 but talks as though she is much older, the consequence of experience.At the 2021 Cannes premiere of her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg’s new documentary, titled Jane par Charlotte in deliberate homage to Varda’s film, Birkin is 74. She arrives dressed in the relaxed-fit blue jeans and oversized white shirt she made iconic in her twenties. She seems to be inviting comparison, to highlight how much she has aged while retaining her je ne sais quoi. Something so deliberate must come from a position of self-confidence,...
- 10/5/2021
- MUBI
Palme d’Or nominee and actress was at Iffr for a retrospective of her work in January.
Belgian filmmaker, producer and actress Marion Hansel has died aged 71 after a heart attack.
Some of her best-known films as a director include Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, which played in competition at Cannes in 1995, and Dust, which won the Silver Lion at Venice in 1985.
Hansel was at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) for a retrospective of her work in January, where she spoke to Screen about how a trip to hospital inspired her recent autobiographical essay film, There Was A Little Ship.
Belgian filmmaker, producer and actress Marion Hansel has died aged 71 after a heart attack.
Some of her best-known films as a director include Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, which played in competition at Cannes in 1995, and Dust, which won the Silver Lion at Venice in 1985.
Hansel was at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) for a retrospective of her work in January, where she spoke to Screen about how a trip to hospital inspired her recent autobiographical essay film, There Was A Little Ship.
- 6/9/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The Criterion Collection has announced a new treat for cinephiles coming this summer. The Complete Films of Agnès Varda, a 15-disc collector’s set, will feature all 39 of the late French icon’s features, shorts, and documentaries. The set hits shelves on August 11 this year.
Each of the 15 discs presents a curation of films organized by themes that marked Varda’s work, including explorations of Paris in “Cléo From 5 to 7,” studies of married life with “Le Bonheur,” her collaborations with Jane Birkin in “Jane B. par Agnès V.” and “Kung-Fu Master!,” and Jacques Demy with “Jacquot d Nantes,” “The Young Girls Turn 25,” and “The World of Jacques Demy,” and much more. She was married to Demy up until his death in 1990.
The full list of included titles is below. The set also features a 200-page book surveying Varda’s career, which launched in 1955 with “La Pointe Courte,” followed...
Each of the 15 discs presents a curation of films organized by themes that marked Varda’s work, including explorations of Paris in “Cléo From 5 to 7,” studies of married life with “Le Bonheur,” her collaborations with Jane Birkin in “Jane B. par Agnès V.” and “Kung-Fu Master!,” and Jacques Demy with “Jacquot d Nantes,” “The Young Girls Turn 25,” and “The World of Jacques Demy,” and much more. She was married to Demy up until his death in 1990.
The full list of included titles is below. The set also features a 200-page book surveying Varda’s career, which launched in 1955 with “La Pointe Courte,” followed...
- 5/11/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
After getting a tease and the announcement of a theatrical touring retrospective, The Criterion Collection have now announced their Agnès Varda boxset, aptly titled The Complete Films of Agnès Varda. A gorgeous, epic undertaking, this treasure trove of cinematic beauty is split into different aspects of the Belgian-born French director’s life and career.
Arriving on a fifteen-disc Blu-ray release on August 11, the set features digital restorations of thirty-nine films, including the first home-video presentations of Les créatures, Jacquot de Nantes, and the television series Agnès de ci de là Varda. There’s also over seven hours of archival programs from Varda, a 200-page book, video introductions by the late filmmaker herself, and much, much more. Check out the details below.
The Films
Agnès Forever – Varda by Agnès (2019), Les 3 boutons (2015)
Early Varda – La Pointe Courte (1955), Ô saisons, ô châteaux (1958), Du côté de la côte (1958)
Around Paris – Cléo from 5 to 7...
Arriving on a fifteen-disc Blu-ray release on August 11, the set features digital restorations of thirty-nine films, including the first home-video presentations of Les créatures, Jacquot de Nantes, and the television series Agnès de ci de là Varda. There’s also over seven hours of archival programs from Varda, a 200-page book, video introductions by the late filmmaker herself, and much, much more. Check out the details below.
The Films
Agnès Forever – Varda by Agnès (2019), Les 3 boutons (2015)
Early Varda – La Pointe Courte (1955), Ô saisons, ô châteaux (1958), Du côté de la côte (1958)
Around Paris – Cléo from 5 to 7...
- 5/11/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
In the latter years of her filmmaking career, Agnès Varda — a giant of the French New Wave of the 1960s — integrated herself more and more into her work, becoming a central character in acclaimed documentaries like “The Gleaners and I” and “Faces Places,” not to mention the autobiographical “The Beaches of Agnès,” which she made to mark her 80th birthday.
As someone accustomed to telling the story of her life on film, it’s not surprising that she ended her career by creating her own memorial: “Varda by Agnès” premiered at the 2019 Berlinale, just one month before she died at the age of 90. This final film acts as a perfect button to a legendary life in art, and it’s also a launchpad to viewers who want to go back and explore her groundbreaking contributions to the cinema.
Structurally, “Varda by Agnès” is built upon a series of lectures she gave,...
As someone accustomed to telling the story of her life on film, it’s not surprising that she ended her career by creating her own memorial: “Varda by Agnès” premiered at the 2019 Berlinale, just one month before she died at the age of 90. This final film acts as a perfect button to a legendary life in art, and it’s also a launchpad to viewers who want to go back and explore her groundbreaking contributions to the cinema.
Structurally, “Varda by Agnès” is built upon a series of lectures she gave,...
- 12/5/2019
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.