Varda, Agnes (1928–)

French filmmaker. Name variations: Agnès Varda. Born in Ixelles, Belgium, May 30, 1928; raised in France; dau. of Eugène Jean Varda (engineer) and Christiane (Pasquet) Varda; m. Jacques Demy (filmmaker), Jan 8, 1962 (died 1990); children: Rosalie and Mathieu Demy.

Award-winning director-producer whose films, a creative mixture of both fictional and documentary styles, anticipated the French New Wave; made 1st film, La Pointe-Courte (1954), a major influence on the French cinema movement of 1960s; after a series of shorts, released 2nd feature-length film, Cléo de cinq à sept (Cleo from 5 to 7), which brought international attention and was her 1st commercial success (1961); followed that with Le Bonheur (Happiness, 1964), one of her best-known films, which won the Silver Bear at Berlin film festival; other films include Les Créatures (The Creatures, 1966), Loin du Vietnam (1967), The Black Panthers (short, 1968), Daguerreotypes (1975), Plaisir d'amour en Iran (1976), L'une chante, l'autre pas (One Sings, the Other Doesn't, 1976), Mur Murs (1980), Documenteur (1980), Une minute pour une image (One Minute for One Image, 1982), Ulysse (1982), Le Dites-Caryatides (The So-called Cariatids, 1984), 7P., cuis., S. de B … (7 rooms, kitchen, bath, 1984), T'as de beaux escaliers, tu sais (1986), Le Petit Amour (1987), Kung Fu Master (1987), Jane B. par Agnès V (1988), Jacquot de Nantes (1990), Les demoiselles on eu 25 ans (1992), L'Univers de Jacques Demy (The Universe of Jacques Demy, 1993), Les 101 nuits (The One Hundred and One Nights, 1994), Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I, 1999). Sans toit ni loi (Without Roof or Law, also called Vagabond, 1985) won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival (1985).

See also Alison Smith, Agnes Varda (St. Martin, 1998); and Women in World History.