Festival

Red balloon at a studio room showing artwork for the Festival.
One of the events this May has been a mini-season of the films of Agnes Varda, one of the early French New Wave directors – her first film being La Pointe Courte, which M and I watched last week. Thank you Ali Smith for choosing this. 
AV herself gave a talk last Sunday – she's in her late 80s – she's such a hero of mine that it was wonderful to see her in person. Her career has been totally individual, she's moved through the decades doing what she wants, seemingly unworried about what might be expected of her as a film maker and artist and as she's still as fresh and excited about stuff as I'd imagine she might be. She's interested in what she's interested in. 
Yesterday it was Vagabond we went to see. So haunting that when I got home I had to sit for a couple of hours in the quiet and try to absorb what I'd just seen. I think it resonated particularly because it featured a solitary woman traveller, which I've been. The film showed all the accompanying feelings of liberation, fear, excitement and restlessness you can feel. The film's still with me now.