Deuteronomy 24:19 reads, "When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless and for the widow."
One of several definitions of an old word, to "glean" is to gather grain or other produce left by reapers. To "glean" is also to gather information, to film the world bit by bit. Even watching movies is gleaning, and art house audiences could do a lot worse than collecting the experience of French filmmaker Agnes Varda's inspiring new film, which she describes as a "wandering-road documentary."
Awarded an honorary Cesar this year, Varda and "The Gleaners and I" (Les Glaneur et la Glaneuse) are on a roll. A Zeitgeist Films release due in April, "Gleaners" won the Prix de la Critique from the French film critics association for best French film of 2000. The film has screened at the New York, Chicago and Palm Springs fests, and it unspools twice this weekend at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. On March 13, the 72-year-old filmmaker will attend the American Cinematheque's preview screening of "Gleaners" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
With advanced technology in the form of Sony DV equipment and filmmaking skills refined over four decades as a revered feature director and documentarian, Varda is a savvy storyteller and likably inquisitive soul. Her gently humorous and always involving "Gleaners" is an extended film essay on an aging cinema artist (herself as narrator and constant presence) exploring a particular subject in history and in present times.
In French with English subtitles -- and looking quite handsome in a 35mm print -- "Gleaners" also chronicles Varda's discovery of the available-to-everyone new mini-cameras. In the process, she creates a unique portrait of modern France. Varda and a small crew filmed in various regions of the country from September 1999-March 2000. At 82 minutes, "Gleaners" is a delectable dish of world cinema that, with hope, many adventurous viewers will discover over time.
Varda filmed about 15 minutes of the finished project herself, including lingering shots of her own wrinkled hand and one spontaneous goof when she holds for a moment on a long, moving shot of the ground as the camera lens cap swings in and out of the frame.
The narration is calming and often reflective of the filmmaker's thoughts about life and art, but Varda also chose fascinating subject matters in gleaners and the ancient practice of gleaning.
The long tradition of scavenging the agricultural leftovers after the harvest inspired many 19th century paintings that Varda discusses and shows briefly, including Pierre Edmond Hedouin's 1852 treasure "Gleaners Fleeing Before the Storm," which Varda has curators reveal at the Museum of Villefranche-sur-Saone. The practice goes on legally today, but there's something less romantic about trucks dumping mounds of undesirable potatoes and smart folks gleaning the surplus. But only a few participants seem to long for the days of fields filled with the kind of stooped-over women immortalized in art by Jean-Francois Millet and Jules Breton.
The search for gleaners of all kinds leads Varda to curious characters in the city, including a man who claims to have eaten "100% trash" for 10 years. But the unemployed, the poor, the professionals and the artists whom Varda questions are generally upbeat about their lives. There is nothing dishonorable or inherently demeaning about gleaning. Likewise, Varda embraces the process of exploring her own feelings upon becoming the "grandmother of the French New Wave," even as she proves there are many realms of the real world still unexplored -- and new ways to bring luminous visions like she offers here to hungry movie lovers everywhere.
THE GLEANERS AND I
Zeitgeist Films
Cine Tamaris
Director-narrator: Agnes Varda
Directors of photography: Stephane Kraus, Didier Rouget, Didier Doussin, Pascal Sautelet, Agnes Varda
Sound: Emmanuel Soland, Nathalie Vidal
Editors: Agnes Varda, Laurent Pineau
Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz
Color/stereo
Running time -- 82 minutes
No MPAA rating...
One of several definitions of an old word, to "glean" is to gather grain or other produce left by reapers. To "glean" is also to gather information, to film the world bit by bit. Even watching movies is gleaning, and art house audiences could do a lot worse than collecting the experience of French filmmaker Agnes Varda's inspiring new film, which she describes as a "wandering-road documentary."
Awarded an honorary Cesar this year, Varda and "The Gleaners and I" (Les Glaneur et la Glaneuse) are on a roll. A Zeitgeist Films release due in April, "Gleaners" won the Prix de la Critique from the French film critics association for best French film of 2000. The film has screened at the New York, Chicago and Palm Springs fests, and it unspools twice this weekend at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. On March 13, the 72-year-old filmmaker will attend the American Cinematheque's preview screening of "Gleaners" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
With advanced technology in the form of Sony DV equipment and filmmaking skills refined over four decades as a revered feature director and documentarian, Varda is a savvy storyteller and likably inquisitive soul. Her gently humorous and always involving "Gleaners" is an extended film essay on an aging cinema artist (herself as narrator and constant presence) exploring a particular subject in history and in present times.
In French with English subtitles -- and looking quite handsome in a 35mm print -- "Gleaners" also chronicles Varda's discovery of the available-to-everyone new mini-cameras. In the process, she creates a unique portrait of modern France. Varda and a small crew filmed in various regions of the country from September 1999-March 2000. At 82 minutes, "Gleaners" is a delectable dish of world cinema that, with hope, many adventurous viewers will discover over time.
Varda filmed about 15 minutes of the finished project herself, including lingering shots of her own wrinkled hand and one spontaneous goof when she holds for a moment on a long, moving shot of the ground as the camera lens cap swings in and out of the frame.
The narration is calming and often reflective of the filmmaker's thoughts about life and art, but Varda also chose fascinating subject matters in gleaners and the ancient practice of gleaning.
The long tradition of scavenging the agricultural leftovers after the harvest inspired many 19th century paintings that Varda discusses and shows briefly, including Pierre Edmond Hedouin's 1852 treasure "Gleaners Fleeing Before the Storm," which Varda has curators reveal at the Museum of Villefranche-sur-Saone. The practice goes on legally today, but there's something less romantic about trucks dumping mounds of undesirable potatoes and smart folks gleaning the surplus. But only a few participants seem to long for the days of fields filled with the kind of stooped-over women immortalized in art by Jean-Francois Millet and Jules Breton.
The search for gleaners of all kinds leads Varda to curious characters in the city, including a man who claims to have eaten "100% trash" for 10 years. But the unemployed, the poor, the professionals and the artists whom Varda questions are generally upbeat about their lives. There is nothing dishonorable or inherently demeaning about gleaning. Likewise, Varda embraces the process of exploring her own feelings upon becoming the "grandmother of the French New Wave," even as she proves there are many realms of the real world still unexplored -- and new ways to bring luminous visions like she offers here to hungry movie lovers everywhere.
THE GLEANERS AND I
Zeitgeist Films
Cine Tamaris
Director-narrator: Agnes Varda
Directors of photography: Stephane Kraus, Didier Rouget, Didier Doussin, Pascal Sautelet, Agnes Varda
Sound: Emmanuel Soland, Nathalie Vidal
Editors: Agnes Varda, Laurent Pineau
Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz
Color/stereo
Running time -- 82 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Deuteronomy 24:19 reads, "When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless and for the widow."
One of several definitions of an old word, to "glean" is to gather grain or other produce left by reapers. To "glean" is also to gather information, to film the world bit by bit. Even watching movies is gleaning, and art house audiences could do a lot worse than collecting the experience of French filmmaker Agnes Varda's inspiring new film, which she describes as a "wandering-road documentary."
Awarded an honorary Cesar this year, Varda and "The Gleaners and I" (Les Glaneur et la Glaneuse) are on a roll. A Zeitgeist Films release due in April, "Gleaners" won the Prix de la Critique from the French film critics association for best French film of 2000. The film has screened at the New York, Chicago and Palm Springs fests, and it unspools twice this weekend at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. On March 13, the 72-year-old filmmaker will attend the American Cinematheque's preview screening of "Gleaners" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
With advanced technology in the form of Sony DV equipment and filmmaking skills refined over four decades as a revered feature director and documentarian, Varda is a savvy storyteller and likably inquisitive soul. Her gently humorous and always involving "Gleaners" is an extended film essay on an aging cinema artist (herself as narrator and constant presence) exploring a particular subject in history and in present times.
In French with English subtitles -- and looking quite handsome in a 35mm print -- "Gleaners" also chronicles Varda's discovery of the available-to-everyone new mini-cameras. In the process, she creates a unique portrait of modern France. Varda and a small crew filmed in various regions of the country from September 1999-March 2000. At 82 minutes, "Gleaners" is a delectable dish of world cinema that, with hope, many adventurous viewers will discover over time.
Varda filmed about 15 minutes of the finished project herself, including lingering shots of her own wrinkled hand and one spontaneous goof when she holds for a moment on a long, moving shot of the ground as the camera lens cap swings in and out of the frame.
The narration is calming and often reflective of the filmmaker's thoughts about life and art, but Varda also chose fascinating subject matters in gleaners and the ancient practice of gleaning.
The long tradition of scavenging the agricultural leftovers after the harvest inspired many 19th century paintings that Varda discusses and shows briefly, including Pierre Edmond Hedouin's 1852 treasure "Gleaners Fleeing Before the Storm," which Varda has curators reveal at the Museum of Villefranche-sur-Saone. The practice goes on legally today, but there's something less romantic about trucks dumping mounds of undesirable potatoes and smart folks gleaning the surplus. But only a few participants seem to long for the days of fields filled with the kind of stooped-over women immortalized in art by Jean-Francois Millet and Jules Breton.
The search for gleaners of all kinds leads Varda to curious characters in the city, including a man who claims to have eaten "100% trash" for 10 years. But the unemployed, the poor, the professionals and the artists whom Varda questions are generally upbeat about their lives. There is nothing dishonorable or inherently demeaning about gleaning. Likewise, Varda embraces the process of exploring her own feelings upon becoming the "grandmother of the French New Wave," even as she proves there are many realms of the real world still unexplored -- and new ways to bring luminous visions like she offers here to hungry movie lovers everywhere.
THE GLEANERS AND I
Zeitgeist Films
Cine Tamaris
Director-narrator: Agnes Varda
Directors of photography: Stephane Kraus, Didier Rouget, Didier Doussin, Pascal Sautelet, Agnes Varda
Sound: Emmanuel Soland, Nathalie Vidal
Editors: Agnes Varda, Laurent Pineau
Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz
Color/stereo
Running time -- 82 minutes
No MPAA rating...
One of several definitions of an old word, to "glean" is to gather grain or other produce left by reapers. To "glean" is also to gather information, to film the world bit by bit. Even watching movies is gleaning, and art house audiences could do a lot worse than collecting the experience of French filmmaker Agnes Varda's inspiring new film, which she describes as a "wandering-road documentary."
Awarded an honorary Cesar this year, Varda and "The Gleaners and I" (Les Glaneur et la Glaneuse) are on a roll. A Zeitgeist Films release due in April, "Gleaners" won the Prix de la Critique from the French film critics association for best French film of 2000. The film has screened at the New York, Chicago and Palm Springs fests, and it unspools twice this weekend at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. On March 13, the 72-year-old filmmaker will attend the American Cinematheque's preview screening of "Gleaners" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
With advanced technology in the form of Sony DV equipment and filmmaking skills refined over four decades as a revered feature director and documentarian, Varda is a savvy storyteller and likably inquisitive soul. Her gently humorous and always involving "Gleaners" is an extended film essay on an aging cinema artist (herself as narrator and constant presence) exploring a particular subject in history and in present times.
In French with English subtitles -- and looking quite handsome in a 35mm print -- "Gleaners" also chronicles Varda's discovery of the available-to-everyone new mini-cameras. In the process, she creates a unique portrait of modern France. Varda and a small crew filmed in various regions of the country from September 1999-March 2000. At 82 minutes, "Gleaners" is a delectable dish of world cinema that, with hope, many adventurous viewers will discover over time.
Varda filmed about 15 minutes of the finished project herself, including lingering shots of her own wrinkled hand and one spontaneous goof when she holds for a moment on a long, moving shot of the ground as the camera lens cap swings in and out of the frame.
The narration is calming and often reflective of the filmmaker's thoughts about life and art, but Varda also chose fascinating subject matters in gleaners and the ancient practice of gleaning.
The long tradition of scavenging the agricultural leftovers after the harvest inspired many 19th century paintings that Varda discusses and shows briefly, including Pierre Edmond Hedouin's 1852 treasure "Gleaners Fleeing Before the Storm," which Varda has curators reveal at the Museum of Villefranche-sur-Saone. The practice goes on legally today, but there's something less romantic about trucks dumping mounds of undesirable potatoes and smart folks gleaning the surplus. But only a few participants seem to long for the days of fields filled with the kind of stooped-over women immortalized in art by Jean-Francois Millet and Jules Breton.
The search for gleaners of all kinds leads Varda to curious characters in the city, including a man who claims to have eaten "100% trash" for 10 years. But the unemployed, the poor, the professionals and the artists whom Varda questions are generally upbeat about their lives. There is nothing dishonorable or inherently demeaning about gleaning. Likewise, Varda embraces the process of exploring her own feelings upon becoming the "grandmother of the French New Wave," even as she proves there are many realms of the real world still unexplored -- and new ways to bring luminous visions like she offers here to hungry movie lovers everywhere.
THE GLEANERS AND I
Zeitgeist Films
Cine Tamaris
Director-narrator: Agnes Varda
Directors of photography: Stephane Kraus, Didier Rouget, Didier Doussin, Pascal Sautelet, Agnes Varda
Sound: Emmanuel Soland, Nathalie Vidal
Editors: Agnes Varda, Laurent Pineau
Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz
Color/stereo
Running time -- 82 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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