Entretiens: Jean Vilar – Agnès Varda

Paris: Institut National De L’Audiovisuel / France Culture, 1988 (14x11cm), double cassette case. French language. 135min playtime. Fine.

At the beginning of her long career, Agnès Varda worked as a photographer before making her first film, La Pointe Courte, in 1955.

In 1948, just one year after Jean Vilar founded the Festival d’Avignon, Agnès Varda was already working as a festival photographer, documenting rehearsals and performances of the emerging festival. When Jean Vilar took over the Théâtre National Populaire (TNP) in 1951, he offered Varda a position as the TNP’s official photographer.

In 1966, France Culture recorded a series of interviews with Jean Vilar, conducted by Agnès Varda. This incredible interview was published in 1988 as part of the Archives Sonores INA series.

A real treasure, about the beginnings of the Festival d’Avignon and the beginnings of Vilar and Varda.