Black Panthers
Agnès Varda: (Self)-Portraits, Facts and Fiction. Agnès Varda’s documentary shorts provide a delightful glimpse into her personal experiences, revealing, with her trademark enthusiastic curiosity, a diverse spectrum of interests and inspirations. In Diary of a Pregnant Woman, a pregnant Varda observes a bustling open-air market in the working-class neighborhood Rue Mouffetard. Salut Les Cubains recalls Varda’s first career as a photographer, assembling 1,800 photos to construct a portrait of a 1963 trip to Cuba. After relocating to California in the 1960s with her husband, filmmaker Jacques Demy, Varda produces some of her most ebullient works, documenting youth culture and the changing political landscape as an outsider. Uncle Yanco witnesses the meeting of two Vardas, as introduced by Tom Luddy, and Black Panthers traces the ascendance of the Black Panther movement, following rallies demanding the release of Huey Newton.
Diary of a Pregnant Woman (L’opéra-mouffe, Agnès Varda, France 1958, 16 min., 35mm, French w/subtitles)
Salut Les Cubains (Agnès Varda, France/Cuba 1963, 30 min., 35mm, French w/subtitles)
Uncle Yanco (Agnès Varda, US 1967, 22 min., DCP, French w/subtitles)
Black Panthers (Huey, Agnès Varda, France 1968, 31 min., DCP, French w/subtitles)
Presented by Dr. Carl Atkins, Professor and Chair, Department of Performing Arts and Visual Culture, RIT.