Agnes Varda's career in pictures

"Varda by Agnes" is a personal memoir on film. In it, French director Agnes Varda looks back at her life and work with charm, artistic finesse and humor. She celebrated its world premiere at the international film festival in Germany's capital, Berlin, where the director was also awarded the honorary Berlinale Camera.

"Faces Places" was the title of her last film, which was screened in German cinemas in 2018. It's a humorous, thoughtful film about her home country and about friendship. Varda traveled through Provence, southern France, with street artist JR, who created photographs of marginalized people they met along the way. The film depicts the troubles, worries and joys of those people.

At the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, 82 women drew attention to the fact that they are still underrepresented in the film industry. As the event's oldest participant, Agnes Varda joined the women on the red carpet. Renowned for her sense of humor, Varda became a filmmaking pioneer in the mid-1950s. Her influence on the Nouvelle Vague predated the likes of Jean-Luc Godard.

Varda was long overshadowed by her famous "Nouvelle Vague" colleagues Francois Truffaut, Claude Chabrol and Jean-Luc Godard — even though her 1955 film "La Pointe Courte," set in a small French fishing village, pioneered the highly influential French New Wave film movement, which went on to influence countless European filmmakers.

The 1955 film, made by then 27-year-old Varda, received much praise at Cannes. Her debut film was half feature film and half documentary, featuring a young couple in crisis at the French Mediterranean coast. The work also depicts the harsh life of French families who are struggling to survive from fishing. Despite receiving critical acclaim at Cannes, "La Pointe Courte" was a box office flop.

After her debut flopped at the box-office, Varda spent several years doing commission work, until in 1961 she started her artistic work again with "Cleo from 5 to 7." In her second feature film, Varda tells the story of a young pop singer who's waiting for the results of a cancer test. It's a film about time, fear and death.

Two legends of French film, Michel Piccoli and Catherine Deneuve, starred in Varda's 1966 film "The Creatures." The two spend their vacation on a small island. He's a science fiction author, whereas she has been left dumb after an accident. The film contains surrealistic elements while changing between color and black-and-white.

In the second half of the 1960s, Varda shot several documentaries on socially critical topics in the US. After returning to France, she directed "One sings, the Other Doesn't" (1977), a feminist film that told the story of a strong 15-year friendship between two different but independent women who become advocates for reproductive rights.

A turning point in Agnes Varda's career was the 1985 film "Vagabond," which earned her a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It tells the story of an aloof young Parisian woman, Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire), who leaves her office-job existence and drifts as a vagabond through the French wine country in what becomes a failing struggle for survival. It's also a reflection on the director's career.

Following "Vagabond," the director devoted two films to singer and actress Jane Birkin. After shooting a docudrama of Birkin, she shot "Kung Fu Master" in 1987, featuring a love affair between a 40-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy. Starring opposite Jane Birkin were Varda's son Mathieu Demy and Birkin's daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg.

1990 was a sad year for Varda following the death of her long-time husband and fellow French New Wave director Jacques Demy, who suffered from AIDS. Varda channeled her mourning for him into the film "Jacquot de Nantes" in 1991. Based on Demy's notebooks, it depicts the youth and artistic career of the director who was best known for his musicals like "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964).

In 1995, the film world celebrated the 100th anniversary of the medium. Agnes Varda made her own contribution to the event with "One Hundred and One Nights." The highly imaginative film brought together many stars like Michel Piccoli and Jean-Paul Belmondo to produce an artistic kaleidoscope of film history.

Around the turn of the century, Agnes Varda directed yet another documentary, this time featuring people in rural France. A lawyer dressed in a dark robe leads the viewer through the film, while the title "The Gleaners and I" refers to people collecting edible remains from freshly harvested fields.

In 2008, the director took a remarkable look at her own life with "The Beaches of Agnes." However, Varda didn't resort to old materials or clippings. It rather shows her at her favorite locations, including the beaches of France. The film was a reflection on her life and her passions, as well as on art and film.

Agnes Varda received numerous awards, including a special award at the Berlinale, a Golden Lion at the 1985 Venice Film Festival, and an honorary Leopard at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival. In 2017, she received an honorary Oscar. The energetic artist died on March 29, 2019, of complications from cancer.