Jean-Luc Godard's cinema is synonymous with innovation. Name any Godard film, early or late period, and you will find a work that opens one's eyes to a new way of thinking about cinema, through its inspired use of elliptical structure, jump cuts, extreme close-ups, Brechtian techniques, text/image/sound design, or engagement with the essay form. Godard's politics and philosophical views underpin the radical form of his films, creating rich layers of meaning and fertile ground for interpretation.
Recognized in the fifties first for his film criticism and then for his short films, Godard's career as a director catapulted with Breathless, his 1959 debut feature. His deep appreciation for film history, literature, art, and music pervades his films, which are filled with quotations from the works he admired. Godard's films have, in turn, inspired many great filmmakers, including Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Quentin Tarantino, and Wong Kar-wai.
This major Godard retrospective spans the entire calendar year. Between January and April, we showcase features and shorts made before 1968. In the fall, we will present his post-1968 oeuvre, representing his middle and later periods. Take advantage of this opportunity to see Godard's masterworks and rarities on the big screen and a chance to comprehend the full scope of his remarkable career, one that has shaped the course of film history in profound ways.