A film series celebrating the 1960s French New Wave writer-directors and the actresses who inspired them, with digital restorations and 35mm prints shown in French with English subtitles.
SIFF Cinema Uptown is running a series called Nouvelles Femmes from September 16 through November 17, with screenings on Wednesdays and two Tuesdays, November 10 and 17. It's a deep dive into the French New Wave of the 1960s, and the whole thing is built around the women of that era.
On the surface, the New Wave is usually told as a story of the writer-directors—François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer, and Agnès Varda—and the actresses who inspired them: Jeanne Moreau, Anna Karina, Brigitte Bardot, Delphine Seyrig, Françoise Fabian, Jean Seberg, and Anouk Aimée. But Varda was actually making films before any of those men, and Martin Scorsese has called her one of the gods of the cinema. The series takes its cue from Ericka Knudson's book Nouvelles Femmes: Modern Women of the French New Wave and Their Enduring Contribution to Cinema, which looks at the women who were writers, activists, poets, and directors in their own right, following Varda's lead.
That movement's liberated themes and stylistic breaks didn't just stay in France; they've shaped the work of filmmakers like Scorsese, Robert Altman, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Richard Linklater. You'll see the films in digital restorations and 35mm prints, in French with English subtitles, and Greg Olson introduces each one.
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Screenings are at 7:30 PM. Individual tickets are $18, or $12 for members; series passes are $160, or $100 for members.
