Early Short Films of the French New Wave - BLU-RAY

In the mid-1950s, a radically new vision of French cinema emerged. The short films in this special edition box set represent the dawn of this New Wave - the earliest works of it's most emblematic auteurs, which would include Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, & more. Visionary producer Pierre Braunberger guided their work and financed their early efforts. These are the first forays of a movement that would revolutionize French film and influence cinema around the world for decades to come.

Another edition of Linklater's lively ode to Godard captures the same moment of ignition from a different vantage, underlining how myths are built in the retelling. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg become icons in the process, but the film never forgets the scuffling improvisation that made it possible. It's a love letter to risk, to friendship, and to the idea that cinema can be invented on a street corner; French with English subtitles.

Four more trailblazing classics from the dawn of Québec's cinematic revolution. BETWEEN SWEET AND SALT WATER (Entre la mer et l'eau douce) - Leaving his rural hometown for the trials and tribulations of success in the city, young folksinger Claude (Orders star Claude Gauthier) begins a charged romance with waitress Geneviève (Dead Ringers' Geneviève Bujold). Legendary filmmaker Michel Brault's celebrated fiction feature debut transposed the intimacy and immediacy of his vérité work and brought new legitimacy to independent cinema in Québec. WHERE ARE YOU? (Où êtes-vous donc?) - Coming together across an extended road trip to Montréal, Christian, Georges, and Mouffe each forge a unique path in the face of an increasingly consumerist society. Filmmaker Gilles Groulx's follow-up to The Cat in the Bag is an intoxicating formal kaleidoscope that pushes cinematic language to it's limits. GENEVIÈVE - Traveling to Québec City for a winter carnival, teenagers Geneviève (Bujold) and Louise (A Woman in Transit's Louise Marleau) experience the joys and disillusionment of a young love affair with Bernard (Bernard Arcand) in Michel Brault's first collaboration with Bujold. FABIENNE (Fabienne sans son jules) - Restless with local celebrity and longing for a lead role in a film, free-spirited chanteuse Fabienne (famed Québécois singer Pauline Julien) relentlessly pursues an offscreen Jean-Luc Godard in this early short from Jacques Godbout (YUL 871).