French New Wave (Georgia)

French New Wave Video Essay - Breaking the Rules 

 The French New Wave

The French New Wave, spanning from the years 1958 to late 1960s, was a major cinematic movement which afforded itself to breaking the rigid structures of conventional Hollywood Cinema. Through an experimental, often self-conscious and way of film making (including the use of jump-cuts, location-shooting, hand held cameras, improvisation and disregard for continuity) many French New Wave directors manipulated their medium as a form of social protest.

Origins:

The movement first came to light under the French magazine Cahiers du Cinema (1951), in which critics such as Francois Truffaut laid out a groundwork of revolutionary cinematic concepts (most notably the Auteur Theory) on which the French New Wave was built. The first considered films of the movement were Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) and A Bout de Souffle or Breathless (Jean Luc Godard, 1960).

Prominent Figures:

·        Jean Luc Godard

·        Francois Truffaut

·        Claude Chabrol

·        Jacques Rivette

·        Agnès Varda

Prominent Films:

·        Breathless (Jean Luc Godard, 1960)

·        The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)

·        Jules and Jim (François Truffaut, 1962)

·        Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)

·        Band of Outsiders (Jean Luc Godard, 1964)