English summary

‘Poetic, moving and downright amusing’ 

‘A film that kisses your eyes’

Adventurous, sensual road movie following its way through France. In a van disguised as a camera and equipped as a print studio, film director Agnès Varda and photograffiti-artist JR go in search of ‘ordinary’ French people. Humanely, socially and inclusively, they give a face to those on the fringe. Visages Villages is poetic, moving – and exceptionally amusing.

A nearly deserted miners’ byway, a goat dairy and a bunker fallen from a cliff are just a few of the remarkable locations visited by photograffeur JR and director Agnès Varda.

The 88-year-old Agnès Varda, former figurehead of the ‘nouvelle vague’, is a striking character in French cinema. In Visages Villages she and 33-year-old JR form a unique duo who follow their passion and intuition, complementing each other perfectly because they are on exactly the same wavelength. Every once in a while a film kisses your eyes. Visages Villages is one of those especially appealing films.

This film won the People’s Choice Award in Toronto, and was honoured at the Cannes Film Festival with the Golden Eye for Best Documentary. On 11 november 2017, for her exceptional contribution to the film industry, Varda also received an honorary Oscar. That makes her the first woman to receive this distinction, following in the footsteps of great names such as Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard and Akira Kurosawa.