Mamata Banerjee composes song on World Music Day
World Music Day was observed in the city with great enthusiasm.
French filmmaker Agnes Varda, a leading figure of the French New Wave cinema, died at 90. She had been battling breast cancer.
“The filmmaker and artist Agnes Varda died from a cancer at her home in the night of March 29, 2019, surrounded by her family and friends,” the family’s statement said, describing her as a “joyful feminist” and “passionate artist,” reported variety.com.
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She was known for films like Cleo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond. The 2001 documentary, The Gleaners and I, is considered one of her masterpieces. In the film, she used the themes of collecting, harvesting and recycling to reflect on her own work.
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It was only last month that the director had presented her latest film, “Varda by Agnes”, at the Berlin Film Festival and received the honorary Berlinale Camera award.
She was awarded an honorary Oscar, a Governors Award, in 2017, becoming the first female director to receive the accolade. She also advocated for the rights of women and their place in the male-dominated world of cinema in her career. Varda was not shy of addressing taboo topics in her films.
Talking about her style of filmmaking, Varda had earlier said: “I just didn’t see films when I was young. I was stupid and naive. Maybe I wouldn’t have made films if I had seen lots of others; maybe it would have stopped me.”
“I started totally free and crazy and innocent. Now I’ve seen many films, and many beautiful films. And I try to keep a certain level of quality in my films.
“I don’t do commercials, I don’t do films pre-prepared by other people, I don’t do star system. So I do my own little thing,” she had said.
The funeral is expected to take place in Paris on Tuesday.
She is survived by her children, Rosalie Varda and Mathieu Demy.
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