Facts about French New Wave Cinema
- 06
Ninety minutes of screen time in Agnès Varda's 1962 film Cléo from 5 to 7 closely mirror its real-time depiction of a singer awaiting medical test results.
- 05
Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, a landmark of French New Wave Cinema, famously employed jump cuts as a deliberate stylistic choice rather than a technical error.
- 04
François Truffaut's debut feature The 400 Blows won the Best Director award at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, launching French New Wave Cinema internationally.
- 03
Critics-turned-directors of French New Wave Cinema frequently published their theories in the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma before making their own films.
- 02
Many French New Wave films were shot on location with handheld cameras and natural lighting, giving them a distinctive documentary-like aesthetic.
- 01
The French New Wave movement emerged in the late 1950s, with directors like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut rejecting traditional filmmaking conventions.