Slideshow
MUR MURS
France, 1981
Directed by Agnès Varda
Narrated by Agnès Varda
In English and French with English subtitles
Approx. 82 min.
During a long stay in Los Angeles, Varda explores the murals—the “living, breathing, seething, talking, wailing, murmuring walls,” painted largely by Chicano and black artists—throughout the city and then talks to their creators. Varda was interested in “how this city, which is the film capital of the world, reveals itself by its whispering walls.”
Preceded by
The So-Called Caryatids
France, 1984
Directed by Agnès Varda
In French with English subtitles
Approx. 13 mins.
A study of the many paired statues of women—some clothed, but most naked—seen throughout Paris, holding up the walls of buildings. Speculating about their history and meaning, Varda uses poetry, song, architectural history, and her own musings. “Thirteen minutes with Varda is life, vivacity, jesting.” – Telerama
Presented with support from The Helen Frankenthaler Endowed Fund for Films on Art and The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Fund
Reviews
“Varda’s affection for public art is just MUR MURS’ jumping-off point, as it explores all that is powerful, bizarre, aspirational, inconsistent and even propagandist about L.A. murals—from paintings of forests on the Pacific Coast Highway to visual requiems for lost gang members in Boyle Heights.”
– Chance Solem-Pfeiffer, Willamette Week