L’Oeil d’Or 2017 : « Visages, Villages » by Agnès Varda & JR
Saturday, May, 27th L’Œil d’Or Jury members Sandrine Bonnaire, Lucy Walker, Dror Moreh, Thom Powers et Lorenzo Codelli, reached their decision awarding L’Oeil d’or to Agnès Varda and JR for their film Visages, Villages (Faces Places) screened Out of Competition within Official Selection.
VISAGES, VILLAGES (FACES PLACES) AGNES VARDA AND JR’S FILM
WINS L’OEIL D’OR – CANNES 2017 DOCUMENTARY AWARD.
Sandrine Bonnaire states « Our jury has been deeply moved by Agnès and JR’s decision to meet so called little people. This movie-tale about consideration for Humananity, expressed through Art, went straight to our heart. This combined way of looking at life is tender, delicate and generous. »
The documentary follows the two artists as they travel through rural France in JR’s van, which doubles as a photo booth. On their journey, they photograph some of the people they meet, mostly working-class folks, and then paste the billboard-sized images on the walls of houses and workplaces.
Agnes Varda, veteran director is one of the leading figures of the French New Wave who blends with talent documentary and fiction. For the 1985 documentary-style feature film Vagabond Without Roof or Rule she received the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival. In 1991, Shortly before Jacques Demy’s death, Agnès Varda created the film Jacquot de Nantes, about his life. In 2009, she shot a selfportrait, The Beaches of Agnès which won César Award for best documentary. In 2015 Cannes Festival, Varda received an honorary Palme d’Or.
JR is known as a French graffiti-artist-turned-outsize-street-photographer, famous for posting vast photographic portraits on ordinary structures all over the world. He put up enormous photos on buildings in the Paris area projects, on the wall in Israel, on broken bridges in Africa or in favelas in Brazil. He calls himself as an urban activist challenging people and their environment.
The jury also awarded an
Honorable Mention to Emmanuel Gras for Makala
documentary, also awarded the Grand prix at this year’s Critic’s Week. This captivating film, set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, follows a heroic charcoal seller who dreams of a better future for his loved ones. Walking endlessly on dangerous roads to trade the fruit of his work, he embodies the relentless struggle of the damned of the earth.
L’OEil d’Or, Cannes Documentary Award was created in 2015 by LaScam in collaboration with the Cannes Festival and its General Delegate Thierry Frémaux, with the support of the INA (the French national audiovisual Institute) and since this year Audiens.
L’Oeil d’Or prize has already awarded on its preivous issues :
o Marcia Allende Tambutti for Allende mi abuelo Allende (Chili)
o Eryk Rocha for Cinema Novo (Brazil)
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