Director’s Fortnight Honors Agnes Varda, Cinema Guild Honors Cinevardaphoto

She might be getting her senior citizen discounts, but she is most definitely isn’t slowing down. Today we get word that Agnes Varda is this year’s recipient of the Carosse d’Or award for lifetime achievement – an award given annually by the Director Fortnight folks. And in a separate news release, after putting out The Beaches of Agnes, The Cinema Guild folks have picked up the rights to another Varda title, this time Cinevardaphoto in what will be a comprehensive DVD edition featuring not only the three films included in the 2005 release, but an additional six other short films. 

Varda will be the 8th honoree, receiving the award on the opening night of the sidebar which will take place on May 13 at Cannes, and will be followed by a showing of Varda’s seldom seen 1969 feature, “Lions Love…and Lies.” In 2008, I was on hand to see a humble Jim Jarmusch receive the honor. 

The Cinema Guild will release the DVD on August 31, 2010. The three films that comprise “Cinevardaphoto” are “Ydessa, The Bears and Etc.” (2004, 43 min.), about a haunting exhibit of thousands of found photographs from the early 20th century, each including a teddy bear; “Ulysses” (1982, 21 min.), a reflection on an early photograph taken by Varda; and “Salut les Cubains”(1962, 28 min.), an exuberant work using still images to capture the spirit of the Cuban revolution’s early days. The DVD will include six short films never before available in the US. These range from the briskly paced “T’as de Beaux Escaliers, Tu Sais,” a jubilant 3-minute ode to the Cinémathèque Française, to the experimental 27-minute haunted house story starring Yolande Moreau, “7 P., Cuis., S. De B…” (the title is real estate parlance for a large apartment). Additional bonus features will also be included.