The Sustainable Legacy of Agnes Varda

Rezensionen / Stimmen

The Sustainable Legacy of Agnes Varda constitutes a magnificent critical tribute to the work of a filmmaker who turned cinema into an art of encountering. Arguing that her legacy extends beyond her filmography, through an ethical and political vision of art worth examining, the contributors of this book remained faithful to the memory of a woman and an artist committed to her time. -- Luc Vancheri, Lumiere University Lyon 2, France Throughout the volume, the overall question - how to sustain joy in Varda's legacy - is met with nuanced and perceptive analysis. The collection offers new perspectives, not least through critique, for example in Jennifer Stob's illuminating essay on Varda's formalist feminism, in which she argues that Varda both 'reveals the patriarchal structure that collapses representational space and the feminine', and 'confirms and reproduces its formalist myth'... This collection is an indispensable tool for Varda teachers, scholars, and fans, and it delightfully fulfils the task of sustaining and renewing Varda's legacy. -- Ros Murray * French Studies * Inquisitive moving-image artist par excellence, Agnes Varda receives here an expansive and multifaceted treatment, one that matches the range and generosity of her own work. These essays revise and open out our understanding of a cinema that both depicts and embodies sustenance. -- Girish Shambu, Canisius College, Buffalo, USA In framing its collection of essays in terms of sustainability, The Sustainable Legacy of Agnes Varda offers a timely intervention in feminist criticism in visual studies. Varda's work lends itself beautifully to these eco-critical analyses, which collectively sustain meticulous attention to Varda's elaborations of embodiment, space, and place across her oeuvre. -- Sharon Willis, University of Rochester, USA