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IFI presents the 50th Anniversary French New Wave Season this July
The French New Wave, or nouvelle vague, burst onto the scene at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival. Their radical, personal and independent agenda gave birth to a set of filmmakers that helped shape European cinema to this day. The IFI will be screening ten of the key moments from the movement throughout July giving audiences a chance to experience these masterpieces in-depth and on the big screen.
Many of the French New Wave filmmakers belonged to a circle of critics turned directors focused around the Cahier du cinema and François Truffaut, at the centre of this circle helped to launch the movement with his semi-autobiographical work on childhood The 400 Blows (July 4th), and the season also features his masterful depiction of a ménage à trois, Jules and Jim (18th July), that embodied the movement’s attack on the impersonal and conservative ‘tradition of quality’ filmmaking of the time.
The early iconoclastic visions of Jean-Luc Godard formed a cornerstone in the movement from his first brilliant and youthfully anarchic debut Breathless (July 5th), his memorable work capturing the electric screen presence of Anna Karina in Vivre sa vie (July 11th) and Band of Outsiders (July 25th) to Contempt (July 19th) that has been described by critic Colin McCabe as “the greatest work of art produced in post-war Europe”.
Also covered in the season is the work of Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Marcel Camus giving a sense of the breadth and strength of the nouvelle vague group, many of whom are still active today. Their revolutionary approach to the director as auteur as the key creative force in film transformed the making of cinema worldwide and will ensure their legacy continues to underpin the shape of filmmaking well into the 21st century.
Tickets are available from the IFI Box Office, on 01 679 3477, or book online at www.ifi.ie
