News

French New Wave fans, rejoice. One of Jean-Luc Godard’s most colorful, joyful, and unapologetically playful masterpieces of the 1960s has received a new 4K restoration. And New Yorkers will have the chance to catch it on the big screen this February.

Godard’s 1961 musical romantic comedy “A Woman Is a Woman” will screen at Film Forum in New York City from February 7-20, which will mark the U.S. premiere of the restoration.

Released in 1961, a year after the Cahiers du Cinema veteran secured himself filmmaking immortality with “Breathless,” “A Woman Is a Woman” was Godard’s tribute to Hollywood’s Technicolor musical comedies. Featuring the bright color scheme that he would return to for films like “Contempt” and “Pierrot Le Fou,” the film stars Godard’s then-wife and frequent collaborator Anna Karina as a dancer who, eager to have a child, entertains the romantic pursuits of two men...

Last year, as movies conceived and shot during the Covid-19 pandemic began to be released, we saw a sudden influx of films rejoicing in the act of moviemaking and movie-watching. From Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” to Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” from Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light” to the Indian Oscar entry “Last Film Show,” a surprising number of films bred during pandemic isolation were movies about movies.

And a year later, during the final days of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, another movie that belongs in that company had its world premiere. “The Movie Teller,” a Spanish-language film set in Chile and made by a Danish director with a cast whose biggest names are known for French and German movies, puts an international spin on the love of movies and embraces the art of storytelling in a way that is at times profoundly moving.

The film is a mixture of genres,...

Kohn’s Corner is a weekly column about the challenges and opportunities of sustaining American film culture.

Chances are that if you care about international cinema, you care about the French New Wave. A loose collective of young directors who came to define their country’s cinema as the 1950s gave way to the ’60s, the French New Wave gave cinema permission to be audacious and uncompromising while bolstering its style and personality. It was cool with purpose.

Jacques Rozier, the last living member of the Nouvelle Vague, died this week at 96. Rozier was a blind spot for me, but the French New Wave was my guide to grasping what the movies could be.

As a teenager, Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” got me excited about the possibilities of the movies like nothing that came before. Francois Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” was a formative encounter with the expansive possibilities of the coming-of-age story.

Humor, it seems, has returned to the Main Competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. After a few days of mostly serious dramas about Nazis and terrorists and sweatshops, a lighter touch has emerged from a couple of expected sources: first Todd Haynes, a filmmaker with a great range but also a real touch for pulpy material that he shows in “May December,” and now Aki Kaurismäki, the Finnish master of comedy so deadpan that it can take an audience half the movie to figure out that it’s Ok to laugh.

They figured it out when Kaurismaki’s “Fallen Leaves” premiered in Cannes on Monday. With a brisk one-hour-and-21-minute running time, the film is a wry delight whose very restraint is part of the joke. Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes standout “The Zone of Interest” might be a movie without a single closeup, but “Fallen Leaves” is pretty much a...

Founded in 1953, bought by Julio Fernández in 1987 and now run by his brother Carlos Fernandez and daughter Laura Fernández, Filmax is one of its biggest true-blue independent studios in Spain, involved in film and TV production, and movie distribution, international film and TV sales and exhibition.

How it got there is another question. “At Filmax, we’ve always bet on creative talent. In Spain, there’s always been creative talents that have revolutionized its sector: Architects, artists and designers,” says Laura Fernández, a Filmax executive producer. “Filmax has known how to find talent in all parts of film production: Composers, screenwriters, DPs, casting, VFX and directors.”

Jaume Balagueró’s “Nameless” gave Filmax its first experience of fulsome international pre-sales at 1999’s Mifed, helping to usher in a golden age of Spanish auteur genre that resonates to this day.

A director on “Polseres Vermelles,” the original Catalan version of “The Red Band Society...

While we’ve known the results of Jeanne Dielman Tops Sight and Sound‘s 2022 Greatest Films of All-Time List”>Sight & Sound’s once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll for a few months now, the recent release of the individual ballots has given data-crunching cinephiles a new opportunity to dive deeper. We have Letterboxd lists detailing all 4,400+ films that received at least one vote and another expanding the directors poll, spreadsheets calculating every entry, and now a list ranking how many votes individual directors received for their films.

Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.

Check out the list below,...

As "the show that would become a genre unto itself," Cowboy Bebop dabbled in a lot of genres over its 26-episode run. One of the biggest divergences from what the series usually was turned out to be its attempt on horror, a well-executed and terrifying episode known as "Pierrot Le Fou."

In "Pierrot Le Fou," Spike is going about his business when he stumbles into a violent scene where a strange man is hunting down and killing another group of men. When he sees Cowboy Bebop's Spike, he decides to take care of the witness first, and shockingly manages to defeat Spike with ease, immediately solidifying this stranger as a major threat. From this point on, Spike is plunged into a situation straight out of a horror flick.

Related: Cowboy Bebop Anime Creator Didn't Even Watch Netflix Live-Action Show

The Murderous Monster of Cowboy Bebop

Spike is retrieved but very badly injured,...

"Cowboy Bebop" may be the most classically cinematic anime out there. The gun-toting, cigarette-smoking main character resembles hard-boiled noir stars like Humphrey Bogart and Western icons like John Wayne. But those weren't the only classic film genres that inspired the creators of "Cowboy Bebop." The 20th episode of the series, "Pierrot le Fou," was named after the 1965 film from French New Wave director Jean-luc Godard. The episode also pays tribute to the films of Jean-Pierre Melville, specifically "Le Samouraï" and "Le Cercle Rouge," among other French New Wave classics.

Episode 20 was always my favorite "Bebop" episode. The villain is a superhuman assassin that has regressed to a child-like mental state. He is impossible to kill but, once wounded, devolves into hysterics. "Episode 20 is a weird one to like," the series director Shinichiro Watanabe admitted (via SakuraBlog). "I guess French people live up to their reputation of being odd." Watanabe concedes...

Jean-Luc Godard, a leading figure of the French New Wave, has died. He was 91.

Best known for his radical and politically driven work, Godard was among the most acclaimed directors of his generation with classic films such as Breathless (À bout de souffle), which catapulted him onto the world scene in 1960.

Jean-Luc Godard Dies: Pioneering French Director Was 91

President Emmanuel Macron of France paid tribute to the director with a statement on Twitter, calling him the “iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers.”

Jean-Luc Godard Tributes Pour In From The World Of Cinema And Beyond: “National Treasure”

Born in Paris in 1930, Godard grew up and attended school in Nyon, Switzerland. After moving back to Paris after finishing school in 1949, Godard found a home amongst the burgeoning group of young film critics in the city’s ciné clubs.

Godard is best known for his seminal work of the 1960s, including Le mépris (Contempt), starring Brigitte Bardot,...

Jean Luc-Godard, who died Tuesday at the age of 91, was widely known as the King of the French New Wave. Since coming onto the scene in the 1960s, his seminal films such as “Breathless,” “Masculin, Feminin” and “Pierrot Le Fou,” introduced avante-garde techniques that have been since been replicated by innumerable filmmakers in the following decades.

In addition to a scathing intellectualism and stubborn stance against “the establishment”, the Franco-Swiss director was best known for changing the rules of cinema — his use of long-takes, jump-cuts and actor asides are just a few of the innovative practices he employed in his films that are still used to this day.

Thankfully, Godard left behind dozens of unforgettable films, many of which have been restored on Criterion. Below, check out some of Godard’s best films to celebrate the late director:

‘Pierrot le fou’ Courtesy of Amazon

Godard perfects the Pop Art color...

TributeThe filmmaker, often credited with revolutionising cinema, passed away by assisted death in Switzerland on September 13.CrisJean-Luc Godard / Courtesy - IFFKNo one had expected 90-year-old Jean-Luc Godard to show up on stage in Thiruvananthapuram, when Kerala’s most cherished film festival – International Film Festival of Kerala – was belatedly held in February last year. Godard, a pioneer of the new wave French cinema in the 60s, was declared the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the fest, held two months too late because of Covid-19. But when the big screen at the Nishagandhi Auditorium lit up to show his face, a Cuban cigar in his hands, the crowd sat bewildered. They broke into laughter and applause at his first line: “Ok I will speak with the tongue of the dominators, I will speak in English.” Godard, a beloved of the festival crowd of Kerala, accepted the award, mocked the language...

Film auteur Jean Luc-Godard, perhaps the biggest name of the French New Wave, has sadly passed away at the age of 91. He was the last living director of the French New Wave, which also included directors such as François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, and Éric Rohmer. Godard is survived by his long-time partner, the Swiss filmmaker, Anne-Marie Miéville. Godard was formerly married to his frequent collaborator, actress Anna Karina. She starred in several of his movies including, Pierrot le Fou, The Little Solider, and A Woman Is a Woman. Karina died aged 79 in December 2019.

Immediately after news of French New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard’s death broke on Tuesday (September 13), tributes started pouring in from world leaders, fellow filmmakers, artistes and cinephiles around the world, reports ‘Variety’.

The first off the block was French President Emmanuel Macron, who described Godard as “the most iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers, who had invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We are losing a national treasure, a look of genius.”

Godard was also celebrated by Edgar Wright, the writer-director of ‘Last Night in Soho’, who wrote on social media that Godard was “one of the most influential, iconoclastic filmmakers of them all.” Wright added that “perhaps no other director inspired as many people to just pick up a camera and start shooting”.

Actor, comedian, director and writer Stephen Fry said he had watched Godard’s debut film ‘Breathless’ for the “umpteenth time again” two weeks ago and...

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Hollywood and other movie industry representatives are paying tribute to Jean-Luc Godard on social media following the news on Tuesday that the Franco-Swiss legend had died.

A former film critic who wrote for the legendary Cahiers du Cinéma during its heyday of the 1950s, Godard burst onto the scene in 1960 with his debut Breathless, which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The Paris-set crime caper, starring Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo, heralded the arrival of cinematic modernism. Using jump cuts, nods to the camera and other meta-fictional devices, it commented on the story as it was unfolding.

Goddard’s career would go on to span half a century, with the filmmaker directing upwards of 70 projects including features, documentaries, shorts and TV. His work was known at various times throughout his long career for everything from its pop-art homages and historical...

Pioneering French movie director Jean-Luc Godard and prolific television and film actor Jack Ging have died. Godard passed away at age 91. The French newspaper Liberation first reported the news of his death. Born on December 3, 1930, in Paris, France, Godard became a leading figure of the French New Wave movement, directing classic films such as Breathless (À bout de souffle), Le Petit Soldat, Vivre sa vie, Bande à part, Pierrot le Fou, Alphaville, and First Name: Carmen. His radical and politically motivated work is regarded as some of the most influential cinema in history. His final film was 2018’s The Image Book, which was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. As reported by Deadline, Ging, who was best known for playing General Harlan “Bull” Fulbright on NBC’s adventure series The A-Team, passed away on September 9 at his home in La Quinta, California. He...

Jean-Luc Godard, whose dynamic style and innovative techniques changed cinema forever, has died at the age of 91.

Jean-Luc Godard was consistently ranked among the greatest and most influential directors to ever live. Beginning as a film critic before making a literal wave in French cinema, Godard and the likes of François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette launched the French New Wave. The movement pushed nearly all boundaries of expected filmmaking techniques.

Godard’s nearly 60-year career was prolific and ever-evolving, churning out over 40 films in that time period, including Breathless, Band of Outsiders, Week-end, Tout va bien, and The Image Book, his final film. Jean-Luc Godard constantly showcased his rebellious style and command, from his 1960 debut through his final years, where he even made a 3D movie. He, too, molded the careers of so many French icons, including the great Jean Seberg, who was later played by Kristen Stewart.

Some of...

A pioneering, revolutionary titan of the cinematic form, Jean-Luc Godard has passed away at the age of 91, as reported by French newspaper Liberation. The paper also reported he died by assisted suicide in Switzerland, where it is authorized and supervised. “He was not sick, he was simply exhausted,” noted a relative of the family. “So he had made the decision to end it. It was his decision and it was important for him that it be known.”

Born on December 3, 1930, Godard would go on to become a film critic for Cahiers du Cinéma before changing the very language of the cinematic medium with his French New Wave contributions, including Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou, and many more. Going through an evolution virtually every decade, the director recently delivered the most radical usage of 3D in a film yet with Goodbye to Language in 2014 and his last feature,...

Jean-Luc Godard, the revered filmmaker regarded as a giant of the French New Wave movement, has died at the age of 91.

He was known for directing a run of radical, medium-changing films throughout the 1960s, including Breathless and Alphaville.

News of Godard’s death was reported by the French newspaper Liberation.

Along with contemporaries such as Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, and François Truffaut, the Paris-born Godard was a central figure in the Nouvelle Vague, an experimental film movement that emerged in France in the late 1950s.

Several of his films are frequently cited among the best movies ever made.

Godard’s first feature was Breathless, released in 1960, an experimental tribute to American film noir. Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a hoodlum named Michel, and Jean Seberg as his American girlfriend, the film caused a stir with its unusual visual style and editing techniques, immediately announcing Godard as one of cinema’s great innovators.

Critic-turned-filmmaker Godard is known for films including ‘Breathless’ and ‘Contempt’.

Influential French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard has died aged 91, according to a report in French newspaper Liberation.

The publication cites people close to the filmmaker as the source of the news.

Born in Paris in 1930, Godard was a central figure in the French New Wave movement of the late 1950s and 60s. He worked as a critic for then newly-founded French magazine Cahiers du cinéma in 1952, before making his first fiction short Une femme coquette in 1955.

The filmmaker’s first feature, 1960’s Breathless (French title: A Bout De Souffle) is among...

Jean-Luc Godard, a leading figure of the French New Wave, has died. He was 91. The French newspaper Liberation first reported the news which was confirmed to Deadline by a source close to the filmmaker.

Best known for his radical and politically driven work, Godard was among the most acclaimed directors of his generation with classic films such as Breathless (À bout de souffle), which catapulted him onto the world scene in 1960. The film was from a treatment by his contemporary and former friend François Truffaut and followed the story of a young American woman in Paris, played by Hollywood star Jean Seberg, and her doomed affair with a young rebel on the run, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery

President Emmanuel Macron of France paid tribute to the director with a statement on Twitter, calling him the “iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers.”

Born in Paris...

Shinji Aoyama, the Japanese film director, writer and composer known for the film “Eureka,” which won him two prizes at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, died March 21 in Tokyo after a battle with esophageal cancer, according to local reports. He was 57.

Aoyama made waves in the international film community when he premiered “Eureka” at Cannes. The film was a black-and-white drama about the aftermath of a bus hijacking, based on a real incident, and it won the Fipresci and Ecumenical Jury prizes. “Eureka” boosted Aoyama to the forefront of a new generation of Japanese filmmakers, and he returned to the festival in 2001 with “Desert Moon” and in 2005 with “Eri Eri Rema Sabakutani.”

Born on July 13, 1964, in Kitakyushu, Japan, Aoyama initially wanted to be a rock musician, but became interested in cinema after watching Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film “Apocalypse Now” and later cited Jean-Luc Godard’s films “Pierrot le Fou” and...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Fever (Maya Da-Rin)

The Fever, director-cum-visual artist Da-Rin’s first full-length feature project, puts a human face to a statistic that hardly captures the genocide Brazil is suffering. This is not just a wonderfully crafted, superb exercise in filmmaking, a multilayered tale that seesaws between social realism and magic. It is a call to action, an unassuming manifesto hashed in the present tense but reverberating as a plea from a world already past us, a memoir of sorts. – Leonardo G. (full review)

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

French New Wave

Dive into one of the most fertile eras of moving pictures with a new massive 45-film series on The Criterion Channel dedicated to the French New Wave. Highlights include Le...

The extraordinary Jonathan Ross discusses his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Kick-Ass (2010)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) – Dennis Cozzalio’s 2015 year-end list

The Woman in Black (2012)

Stardust (2007)

The Green Knight (2021) – Our podcast interview with director David Lowery, Dennis Cozzalio’s best-of-2021-so-far list

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The Astro-Zombies (1968) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

The Corpse Grinders (1971) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Zombies (1964) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

Blood Feast (1963) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Wizard of Gore (1970)

Police Story (1985) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (1989)

Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Society (1989)

Eraserhead (1977) – Karyn Kusama’s Blu-ray review

Faster Pussycat Kill Kill (1965) – Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Randy...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo on the set of Pierrot Le Fou (1965). Jean-Paul Belmondo has died, leaving behind six decades of films that started with his breakout role in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960). In his tribute to the iconic actor, critic Richard Brody describes Belmondo as the "height of cool [...] an icon of a cinema to which he didn't belong." The world has also been shocked by the death of the singular actor Michael K. Williams. Known to many as Omar Little from The Wire, Williams also worked with auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson, Ava Duvernay, Martin Scorsese, and Steve McQueen. As his The Wire co-star Wendall Pierce says, Williams gave "voice to the human condition."Mondo is kicking off its Mondo x Death Waltz 10th Anniversary celebration with a deluxe reissue of...

If Jean-Paul Belmondo had gotten his way, he would have been a stage actor. He applied to the Conservatoire de Paris three times before the illustrious drama school accepted him and spent the 1950s trying to launch a theater career.

Lucky for world cinema, Belmondo had greater success on screen, thanks to his role in 1960’s “Breathless,” the movie that launched the French New Wave — and instantly rendered everything Hollywood had been doing old-fashioned. In “Breathless,” Belmondo wasn’t playing a gangster so much as someone who had seen too many gangster movies, a self-styled tough guy who took Humphrey Bogart as his model. His crime spree feels more improvised than scripted, while his doesn’t-care, screw-society attitude effectively thumbed its nose at all the good reasons on-screen criminals had used to justify their actions before.

Godard’s film made Belmondo the face of the New Wave — a handsome mug...

His film roles included Two Women, That Man From Rio, Pierrot le Fou, The Thief Of Paris and The Brain.

Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, one of the biggest stars of postwar French cinema, has died aged 88 in his Paris home, his lawyer told Afp on Monday (September 6).

“He had been very tired for some time. He died peacefully,” his lawyer, Michel Godest, told Afp. The exact cause of death has not been announced.

Belmondo was born on April 9 1933 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris. His father was renowned sculptor Paul Belmondo and his mother was painter Sarah Rainaud-Richard.

Prior to becoming an actor,...

Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, whose performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 “Breathless” helped usher in the French New Wave, has died at the age of 88. The actor’s lawyer confirmed the report to news outlets on Monday. No cause of death has been revealed. Belmondo starred in nearly 100 features, for both film and television including the aforementioned “Breathless” and “Pierrot le Fou.”

Belmondo was April 9, 1933 west of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Acting didn’t come immediately to Belmondo. He began as a boxer, making his amateur debut in the ring in 1949. The physical changes to his face, according to the actor, compelled him to leave the sport. He would eventually attend a private drama school , transitioning to the Conservatoire of Dramatic Arts in his twenties. He made his stage debut in 1953.

His first film role came in Jean-Pierre Cassel’s 1957 “On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels,” but he wound up on the cutting-room floor.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, whose bad-boy presence in Jean-Luc Godard’s new wave masterpiece “Breathless” established him as the French idol of his generation, has died, Variety has confirmed. He was 88.

For more than a decade following the release of “Breathless,” Belmondo reigned as one of France’s top box office stars. The actor was likened alternately to James Dean, Humphrey Bogart and Marlon Brando for his brooding, charismatic persona, and he proved able to work in virtually any genre. After “Breathless,” the cult that formed around him was dubbed le belmondisme by the French media. Unlike Dean, who was a rebel without a cause, Belmondo’s antihero persona was more existential, detached and irredeemable. With such magnetism, an American career could have been his for the asking, but he largely resisted studio-made productions and later in life openly criticized Hollywood for overly dominating film screens in France.

Though most closely associated with Godard,...

Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 classic made Belmondo a major star and his craggy looks led to a stellar career in France and around the world

Jean-Paul Belmondo: the beaten-up icon who made crime sexyA life in pictures

Jean-Paul Belmondo, the French actor who shot to international fame in Jean-Luc Godard’s revolutionary new wave classic Breathless, has died aged 88. The actor’s lawyer confirmed the news to Afp.

Belmondo – nicknamed Bébel by French audiences – became one of the country’s biggest box-office stars in the 60s and 70s, his battered-looking face a contrast to the chiselled features of his rival and sometime-collaborator Alain Delon. Like Delon, Belmondo was a key figure of the outstanding generation of European film-making of the period, with the series of films he made with Godard – which included A Woman Is a Woman and Pierrot le Fou – making an indelible mark.

The end of the filmmaking road is drawing near for Jean-Luc Godard, the French New Wave icon behind “Breathless,” “Contempt,” “Pierrot le Fou,” “Masculin Féminin,” and more. During a recent 85-minute conversation with the virtual International Film Festival of Kerala (via The Film Stage), Godard confirms his plan to retire from directing after his next two projects. The filmmaker currently has two scripts in various stages of development, one he announced is being made with European public service channel Arte and the other which is titled “Funny Wars.”

“I’m finishing my movie life—yes, my moviemaker’s life—by doing two scripts,” the 90-year-old Godard added about his plan to retire in the near future. “After, I will say, ‘Goodbye, cinema.’”

Godard will forever be associated with the French New Wave, a movement he pioneered with 1960 directorial debut “Breathless.” At that point in his career, Godard had been making...

IFFKLifetime Achievement Award for this edition will be presented to renowned French-Swiss filmmaker and critic Jean-Luc Godard.Tnm StaffCourtesy - Philippe R Doumic / Wiki Commons / Cc by Sa 4Online registration for the 25th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) will begin on Saturday, January 30. All Covid-19 protocols will be followed at the festival venues. The Iffk, organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, will begin in Thiruvananthapuram on February 10 and end on February 14, following which it will be held in Kochi (February 17 to 21), Thalassery (February 23 to 27) and Palakkad (March 1 to 5). The online registrations will begin at 10 am on Saturday. Delegate fees for the general category is Rs 750 while for the students, it is Rs 400. Delegates should register at the venue closest to their hometown. Godard gets Lifetime Achievement Award The Lifetime Achievement Award for this edition will be presented to renowned French-Swiss filmmaker and critic Jean-Luc Godard.

Brian Trenchard-Smith, who began making movies in the 1970s as part of the Australian New Wave that also included Peter Weir and George Miller, is not only one of the most talented and entertaining directors of his generation but one of the most versatile; his output includes lyrical children’s films and lowbrow sex comedies, disreputable exploitation flicks and tender romances, documentaries and low-budget disaster movies, and episodic TV episodes ranging from Flipper and Mission: Impossible reboots to the ’90s guilty pleasure Silk Stalkings. A filmmaker who freely admits that he never met a green light he didn’t like, Trenchard-Smith is a craftsman whose best work […]

The post The Quest, Amazon Women on the Moon and Pierrot Le Fou: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Brian Trenchard-Smith, who began making movies in the 1970s as part of the Australian New Wave that also included Peter Weir and George Miller, is not only one of the most talented and entertaining directors of his generation but one of the most versatile; his output includes lyrical children’s films and lowbrow sex comedies, disreputable exploitation flicks and tender romances, documentaries and low-budget disaster movies, and episodic TV episodes ranging from Flipper and Mission: Impossible reboots to the ’90s guilty pleasure Silk Stalkings. A filmmaker who freely admits that he never met a green light he didn’t like, Trenchard-Smith is a craftsman whose best work […]

The post The Quest, Amazon Women on the Moon and Pierrot Le Fou: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

There will soon come a day when you'll have 10,000 different ways to watch Bong Joon-ho's extraordinary Oscar-winning drama Parasite, and there is nothing wrong with that. You can already watch it in black and white or on streaming, and soon you'll be able to watch it with all the Criterion Collection bells and whistles as the film debuts during the company's October new releases. Joining Parasite are Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking road-trip movie Pierrot le fou, the Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones two-hander rom-com Claudine, director Henry …...

The Criterion Collection has announced an October release date for its “Parasite” Blu-ray release, a fitting date as the release will mark the one-year anniversary of Bong Joon Ho’s U.S. theatrical release. The Criterion “Parasite” release includes not only a 4K remaster of the original film supervised by Bong Joon Ho himself, but also the movie’s much-touted black-and-white version and new audio commentary track with Bong and film critic Tony Rayns.

“A zeitgeist-defining sensation that distilled a global reckoning over class inequality into a tour de force of pop-cinema subversion, Bong Joon Ho’s genre-scrambling black-comic thriller confirms his status as one of the world’s foremost filmmakers,” Criterion wrote in a statement announcing the film’s October release date. “A bravura showcase for its director’s meticulously constructed set pieces, bolstered by a brilliant ensemble cast and stunning production design, ‘Parasite’ cemented the New Korean Cinema...

Almost exactly one year since it began its theatrical release in the United States, Bong Joon Ho‘s Parasite is arriving on The Criterion Collection. The Best Picture winner leads their October 2020 lineup, and for those who bought the standard Blu-ray edition earlier this year, you can now plan to give it to a friend as the disc is packed with extras.

Among the special features is the black-and-white version of the film, an audio commentary by Bong Joon Ho and critic Tony Rayns, a feature on the New Korean Cinema movement featuring Bong and Park Chan Wook, a storyboard comparison and more.

Also part of the October lineup is Stephen Frears’ crime drama The Hit, starring Terence Stamp, the Gregory Peck-led western The Gunfighter, John Berry’s Claudine, which features an Oscar-nominated performance by Diahann Carroll, and a new restoration of the Jean-Luc Godard classic Pierrot le fou.

Belmondo and Melville is showing April and May, 2020 on Mubi in the United States.In 1961 Jean-Pierre Melville released Léon Morin, Priest—a deeply French film set during the Second World War—and in 1963 came his follow-up, Le doulos, a modern-day crime movie with American influences. In the year between those two films, Serge Gainsbourg released an album called Serge Gainsbourg N° 4. The record is notable for shifting the singer a little further away from his French troubadour roots and towards more contemporary, rock’n’roll sounds. The album features a song with a title in English, “Intoxicated Man”—a jazzy, Hammond organ-backed number in which Gainsbourg uses the English words “smoking” and “living room.” These little touches show the creep of American influences on French culture: Gainsbourg is affecting the cool nonchalance of a modern man, with the help of these particular lifestyle signifiers. A year later, Jean-Paul Belmondo also...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard

The Criterion Channel has recently put the spotlight on a pair of French New Wave icons: Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard–and it’s not just their iconic collaborations, but also films they made separately. The two separate series include A Woman Is a Woman, Vivre sa vie, Le petit soldat, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, Made in U.S.A, The Nun, Breatheless, Contempt, Film socialisme, Goodbye to Language, The Image Book, and more.

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

Bombshell (Jay Roach)

Although Bombshell is rather straightforward, it accomplishes its goal of telling this story with sufficient nuance,...

With his first short film, the animated “Yùl and the Snake,” Gabriel Harel won Europe’s Cartoon d’Or for the continent’s best animated short film, given at the 2016 Cartoon Forum in Toulouse. Now, Harel’s awaited sophomore effort, the animated “The Night of the Plastic Bags,” competes at UniFrance’s MyFrenchFilmFestival, and is available on a swathe of VOD platforms around the world. The short world-premiered at last year’s Cannes Festival, in Directors’ Fortnight.

Trained at Valence’s celebrated La Poudrière animation school in France, Harel delivers in his second short a dark story – with the rhythm of an ecological thriller – about 39-year-old Agathe, who is obsessed with having a child in a world conquered by plastic bags. As in “Yùl,” Harel has chosen to shoot in B&w with select objects — the devilish bags— in pop-out colors. “The Night” is produced by French Kazak Productions, behind Manele Labidi’s “Arab Blues,...

With the passing of Anna Karina, a curtain has fallen on the French New Wave, that fabled cinematic movement that brought fame to the man who made her name, Jean-Luc Godard. Yes, Godard is still with us, as is “Breathless” star Jean-Paul Belmondo (practically the last of the living New Wave legends), but his moviemaking compatriots François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Jacques Demy, and, most recently, Agnès Varda are gone, and with them the spirit of playful abandon that Karina perfectly embodied.

In such Godard classics as “A Woman is a Woman,” “Pierrot le Fou,” “Alphaville,” and “Made in USA,” Karina appeared as a gamine and a femme fatale at the same time. Not since Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich had there been a director-and-star tandem so potent. The closest to it would be Philippe Garrel’s partnership with Nico — although the avant-garde blue plate specials made by...

Anna Karina, the model-turned-actress who became a French New Wave icon thanks to her collaborations with the director Jean-Luc Godard, has died at the age of 79.

France’s cultural minister Franck Riester announced Karina’s death on Twitter, with the actress’ agent later confirming that Karina died Saturday in Paris following a battle with cancer.

“Her gaze was the gaze of the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave). It will remain so forever,” Riester wrote of Karina. “Today, French cinema has been orphaned. It has lost one of its legends.”

Born Hanne...

Anna Karina, the French New Wave icon, has died at age 79, leaving behind an indelible body of cinema’s most charming and even radical work — including director Jean-Luc Godard’s “A Woman Is a Woman,” “Pierrot Le Fou,” “Alphaville,” “Vivre Sa Vie,” “Band of Outsiders,” “Le Petit Soldat,” and more.

Karina, who was born in Denmark and became a symbol of cinematic counterculture, died on Saturday in Paris. Reportedly, she died of cancer, according to her agent, Laurent Balandras. Karina’s last film was 2008’s “Victoria,” which she also wrote and directed. This was her second and final feature behind the camera following 1973’s “Living Together.”

Karina’s loss leaves a huge hole in the filmgoing community, and many have taken to Twitter to make tribute to the actress; see below. IndieWire spoke with Anna Karina in 2016 about her many storied collaborations with Jean-Luc Godard.

Rest In Peace, the truly iconic Anna Karina,...

Anna Karina, the dark-haired and mysterious actress who became a symbol of France’s Nouvelle Vague thanks to her frequent appearances in Jean Luc Godard’s films, has died. She passed on Saturday in Paris from cancer at age 79, according to French officials and her agent.

The Danish-born actress was also a singer and author during her long career in the arts. Her1960s hits included Sous le Soleil Exactement and Roller Girl,” written by Serge Gainsbourg. Her four novels included Golden City.

Karina made her first film with Godard in Le Petit Soldat, a story of terrorism during the French-Algerian War. But because of censorship, the film was not released for three years. At that point, Karina had won the 1961 Best Actress Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for Godard’s Une Femme Est Une Femme.

Her other Godard films of the 1960s included Vivre Sa Vie, Bande à Part,...

Anna Karina, the Danish-born star of classic French New Wave films of the 1960s such as “A Woman Is a Woman” and “Alphaville,” died on Saturday at age 79.

Her agent, Laurent Balandras, tweeted that she died of cancer.

“Today, French cinema has been orphaned,” Franck Riester, France’s culture minister, wrote in his own tweet. “It has lost one of its legends.”

Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2019 (Photos)

Karina landed her first film role as a teenager in Jean-Luc Godard’s “The Little Soldier,” a drama about the French-Algerian War that was shot in 1960 but not released until three years later due to censorship issues.

In 1961, she won the best actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for her work playing a French striptease artist in Godard’s 1961 film “A Woman Is a Woman.”

By that time, she had also married Godard — with whom she continued to work on...

Karina was best known for the string of films she made with Jean-Luc Godard, including A Woman Is a Woman and Pierrot le Fou

•Anna Karina - a life in pictures

•Peter Bradshaw: an actor of easy charm and grace whose presence radiated from the screen

Danish-French actor Anna Karina, star of Bande à Part and Pierrot le Fou and collaborator with New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, has died of cancer at the age of 79, her agent said.

Karina, who epitomised 1960s chic with her elfin features and big kohl-rimmed blue eyes, starred in seven films made by her ex-husband Godard, including Alphaville.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday.

“Always Be My Baby” is now streaming on Netflix, and some of the excitement around the film has centered on a (very funny) cameo by Keanu Reeves as the very aggressive new boyfriend of Ali Wong’s character.

But cameos are not, of course, a new invention of the streaming age. On the contrary, the cameo is an ancient art that stretches all the way back to the time Kurt Vonnegut wrote a bad essay about his own work in “Back to School,” and possibly even before that!

With that in mind, we asked our panel of critics to name their favorite movie cameos ever. Check out their choices below:

Ken Bakely (@kbake_99), Freelance for Film Pulse



I’ve recently been oddly fascinated by Huey Lewis’s brief cameo in “Back to the Future,...

Jean-Luc Godard has revealed details of his follow-up to “The Image Book,” which saw the French New Wave luminary take his experimental approach in bold new directions. Though his next project doesn’t yet have a title, it does have a narrative: “It will tell the story of a Yellow Vest woman who breaks up with her boyfriend,” Godard told Les Inrockuptibles. “The theme is inspired by Racine’s Bérénice. The character brings to mind Bérénice when Titus comes back to the State.”

“It won’t be made just of what you call archival images. There will also be a shoot. I don’t know whether I’ll find what one calls actors. I’d like to film the people one sees on news channels but plunging them into a situation where documentary and fiction blend,” Godard added.

He continued, “I don’t know whether they’ll agree to be filmed in relation to themselves,...

Jean-Luc Godard's The Image Book (2018) is having its exclusive online premiere in the United Kingdom from December 3 – January 1, 2019.The first thing we see in Jean-Luc Godard’s new film, The Image Book, is the pointing hand of Leonardo da Vinci’s St. John The Baptist, believed by many to be his final work in oils—a masterpiece of sfumato, though Godard’s image is contrasty black-and-white like a Xerox some generations removed from the original. Next, two hands, maybe the director’s, pinning together lengths of film at a Steenbeck editing table, and one of those esoteric quotations for which Godard is famous: “Man’s true condition: to think with hands,” from the Swiss writer Denis de Rougemont, previously featured in Godard’s magnum opus, Histoire(s) du cinéma. Then, a montage from Histoire(s): hands (including Giacometti’s The Hand) and part of a favorite quotation from St.

To mark the release of the restoration of The Nun, out now, we’ve been given a Blu-ray bundle including The Nun, The Essential Godard Collection, La Prisonnière, Belle de Jour and Lola to give away.

In the Xviii century, Suzanne Simonin (Anna Karina) is locked in a convent against her will. She finds for a while some comfort with the Mother Superior, but then she dies and is replaced by a sadistic woman than cannot stop blaming and punishing Suzanne. The young lady gets the right to move to another convent, however, she remains determined to recover her freedom.

Jacques Rivette (1928 – 2016) was a French film director and film critic, known for his contributions to the French New Wave and the influential magazine (dubbed the ‘instrument of combat’ of the New Wave) Cahiers du Cinéma, of which he was editor throughout the first half of the 1960s. Extremely prolific throughout his career,...

The Notebook is covering Cannes with an on-going correspondence between critics Lawrence Garcia and Daniel Kasman.Dear Lawrence,I also was impressed by Jaime Rosales’s Petra—and especially, as you note, by actress Bárbara Lennie, whose reserved intelligence and natural poise suggest an eloquent capability of character: Whenever she is in a scene, whether in Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows or this one, one feels anything is possible in the drama, because she suggests an independence consciously held in check, thinking, feeling, waiting, and above all choosing when to speak, when to act.“When to act” could be the central question of Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Book, which has premiered in the Cannes Film Festival's competition. Taking the form of an essay film collage akin to his opus Histoire(s) du cinéma, it is a salvo of anger and soul-searching inquiry from this director too-often venerated only for...