From September 28th through October 26th, The Paris Theater will celebrate the forthcoming release of Richard Linklater’s NOUVELLE VAGUE — which chronicles the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s BREATHLESS — with a series of Godard’s 1960s films presented on 35mm. The films showcased in this month-long celebration are BREATHLESS (1960), A WOMAN IS A WOMAN (1961), VIVRE SA VIE (1962), BAND OF OUTSIDERS (1964), PIERROT LE FOU (1965), and WEEKEND (1967). In conjunction with Kino Lorber, GME distributes one of Godard’s seminal works from this period — 1965’s ALPHAVILLE (1965) — to the North American university market as a Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital file. Bonus material on this release includes an interview with the film’s star, Anna Karina, and audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas.

As noted in The Paris Theater’s recent press release:

In anticipation of NOUVELLE VAGUE, Richard Linklater’s love letter to the revolutionary magic of the French New Wave and a reimagining of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s BREATHLESS, the Paris Theater is proud to present NEW WAVE: 60s Godard on 35mm. This weekly series will highlight some of Jean-Luc Godard’s most influential films, centered on the pivotal era in the 1960s when the critic-turned-director became one of the most lauded artists in a filmmaking movement that changed the shape of international cinema. NEW WAVE: 60s Godard on 35mm begins with a very special screening of 1960’s BREATHLESS. The show will start with Richard Linklater in conversation on stage at the Paris, discussing the creative inspiration he’s gotten from the films and filmmakers of the French New Wave. BREATHLESS, and every film shown in the series, will be presented on 35mm prints to pay tribute to the format used to capture these iconic films.

ALPHAVILLE is one of the best-known titles in Godard’s 1960s output, an “effects-free, black-and-white take on sci-fi” that is “typically iconoclastic: cerebral, disorienting, at once beautiful and alienating.” The film combines the genres of dystopian science fiction and film noir and epitomizes Godard’s endless mission to interrogate and reinvent cinematic conventions and tropes.

In ALPHAVILLE, Secret agent Lemme Caution (played by Eddie Constantine) is sent to the distant space city of Alphaville, where he must track down and kill the inventor of the all-controlling computer, Alpha 60. With shades of George Orwell, Alpha 60 has outlawed free thought and individualist concepts like love, poetry, and emotion. People who show signs of emotion are presumed to be acting illogically and are gathered up, interrogated, and executed. As a result, Alphaville is an inhuman, alienated society.

To purchase a copy of ALPHAVILLE from GME, please contact sales@gartenbergmedia.com.

News

Jean-Luc Godard's '60s French New Wave Classics Screening on 35mm at The Paris Theater Beginning on September 28th