On the thirteenth episode, Matt and Travis tackle the second half of Varda’s diptych with Jane Birkin. After taking a look at our own unease with the subject matter of this controversial fictional film based on a short story Birkin wrote, we discuss the film’s other themes such as the AIDS epidemic, growing older, and 1980s video games.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the twelfth episode, Matt and Travis welcome longtime Friend of the Show Ericca Long back to discuss Varda’s idiosyncratic portrait of actress, model and icon Jane Birkin. Along with many tangential topics including modern arcades, getting older, and the musical genius of Steely Dan, we discuss the film’s unique blurring of document and fiction and Varda’s insightful use of the many tools at her disposal to present a multifaceted presentation of someone her audience likely believed they already knew everything about.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the eleventh episode, Matt and Travis welcome Alex Kittle to discuss Vagabond, one of Varda’s most successful and praised films. Alex is a projectionist at the Brattle Theater, one of the greatest and most important repertory theaters in America, in Cambridge, MA. She’s also an accomplished artist as Pan and Scan on Etsy, Ko-Fi, and Behance among other places, with a focus on film and other pop-culture related content. On the episode, we discuss Varda’s empathic portrayal of a woman who has intentionally placed herself on the margins of society and the way this portrait challenges our own personal relationship to the basic social contract we’ve constructed.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the tenth episode, Matt and Travis discuss Documenteur, Varda’s fictional feature pairing with her documentary Mur Murs. A self-described “emotion picture,” Varda’s final film in Hollywood is semi-autobiographical. We discuss the movie’s unique tone merging melancholy and playful meta touches that nod both to Mur Murs and the nature of filmmaking in general, along with the personal and compelling portrayal of a woman’s interiority that makes this one of the more underrated films in her catalog. We also discuss a wide range of shorts Varda made in the period after Documenteur and before her next landmark film.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the ninth episode, Matt and Travis discuss Varda’s documentary on the murals of Los Angeles, Mur Murs. Created virtually simultaneously with the fictional film Documenteur, Mur Murs is a portrait of Los Angeles as a concrete landscape dotted with organic beauty from unusual origins. We discuss the film’s depiction of this much misunderstood city and in particular its marginalized communities that get to shine here, along with Varda’s evolving relationship with the documentary form she has developed throughout her career.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the eighth episode, Matt and Travis welcome Laura Cannon from the Fatal Femmes podcast to discuss Varda’s self-described “feminist musical,” One Sings, the Other Doesn’t. We discuss the film’s still-relevant issues confronting women, the unique nature of the friendship depicted in the film, and the film’s powerful emotional impact.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the seventh episode of The Complete Varda, Matt and Travis discuss the charming documentary Varda made for German television in 1975, Daguerréotypes. A simple profile of the shops and their keepers on the block in Paris where Varda lived until the end of her life, the film also served as a challenge for Varda, who restricted herself to a 200 foot range around her flat in order to stay close to her young son. We discuss this clever juxtaposition of filmic text and performance piece outside of the work, along with the political implications of the film; but we also bask in the glow of a neighborhood’s charm that typified a bygone era even at the time of its filming.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the sixth episode of the Complete Varda, Matt and Travis discuss the most obscure film in Varda’s filmography, the 1970 made-for-television film Nausicaa. Censored at the time and surviving only in a work print sent to Belgium (with all other materials destroyed and the film never finished), Nausicaa is the story of Varda’s search for meaning in her own history and the contemporary political crisis in Greece. We discuss the film’s fragmented and experimental structure, its political history, and the ways in which Varda uses film as a search for meaning and connection.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the fifth episode of the Complete Varda, Matt and Travis discuss another of Varda’s unique explorations, 1969’s Lions Love (…and Lies was added at some point after the initial release). Filmed during Varda’s first stint in Los Angeles, the movie is largely formless and flirts with the line between documentary and fiction in a way that would define much of Varda’s later work. We discuss these fascinating new areas of exploration, and also cover the two shorts Varda made during this time in northern California, Uncle Yanco and The Black Panthers.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On the fourth episode of the fifth season, Matt and Travis welcome their first guest of the season, the eternally wise and effortlessly cool David Blakeslee of Criterion Reflections, to discuss one of Agnès Varda’s most unusual and idiosyncratic films, 1966’s Les Creatures. We discuss the unusual status of the film as Varda’s most commercial and most experimental movie, along with the film’s context within the larger FNW sci-fi adventures of the mid to late 60s.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download