Past Events

Idle-rich Ronald (Jean-Claude Brialy) is shamed by the harmless antics of student Arthur (Charles Belmont) and resolves to get even with him, enlisting sparky Ambroisine (Bernadette Lafont) to assist. Arthur falls for her—and the duo’s deception—resulting in a typically freewheeling Nouvelle Vague jaunt but with substantial sinister vibes.

Dancer and choreographer Liz Santoro recounts her life onstage. Some memories are real, others are generated by artificial intelligence; some movements originate from her body, others are fabricated by an algorithm trained on her dancing. This Is Unreal constructs a hybrid world which asks: Where does the body end and the machine begin?

A digital reconstruction by Michael Witt of a remarkable montage film created by Godard at the 1981 Rotterdam Film Festival from his film Sauve qui peut (la vie) and reels from four other films: Old and New (aka The General Line) by Sergei M. Eisenstein and Grigori Alexandrov (1929), Cops by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton (1922), La Terra Trema by Luchino Visconti (1948), and Man of Marble by Andrzej Wajda (1977). This montage film, which Godard titled Sauve la vie (qui peut), was screened just once and seen by only a handful of people. It constituted an extension of his wide-ranging experimentation with the juxtaposition of film reels during his exploratory lectures on cinema history in Montreal and Rotterdam in 1978 and 1980-1981, respectively, and anticipated his later videographic montage practice, which would culminate in Histoire(s) du cinéma.

Contrary to what one might conclude based on how few plays Godard adapted as films, he was deeply interested in the theater and had numerous unrealized theatrical projects over his career. René Allio, whom Godard interviewed for Cahiers, ventured into filmmaking from theater, and his first feature La Vieille dame indigne (The Shameless Old Lady) is a beautifully observed, gently subversive adaptation of a Brecht short story, featuring Sylvie (real name Louise Pauline Mainguené) as a widow determined to enjoy her remaining years to the full. Godard’s wide-ranging exploration of theater in the 1960s culminated in La Chinoise (1967), a film that exemplifies his desire in this period to combine and blend theatrical and cinematic forms. ‘One should make theater in the cinema’, as he put it, ‘mix things up’.

A Latin expression, literally meaning “in accordance with one’s wishes or until satiety,” Ad Libitum is a piece about the desire to create, to step outside oneself, to expand. Dancer Simon Le Borgne and musician Ulysse Zangs explore the idea of molting, of emptying yourself through dance and live music. Driven by a musical score of drums, electric guitar and synths, the performance expresses the need to change skin and shed all substance, as well as the need to embody yourself, to fill your own container.

This special screening explores Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking approach to filmmaking through his innovative ‘audiovisual scripts’ – experimental video notebooks that replace the traditional written screenplay. Focusing on his acclaimed film Passion, the program spans work from 1981 to 2006, bringing together rare test footage, preparatory video scripts, the remarkable video essay he made afterwards, and the short film he eventually made from the test footage. This constellation of material offers a unique insight into how Godard developed ideas through audiovisual collages of image, text and sound, blending cinema, painting, and experimentation.

A Latin expression, literally meaning “in accordance with one’s wishes or until satiety,” Ad Libitum is a piece about the desire to create, to step outside oneself, to expand. Dancer Simon Le Borgne and musician Ulysse Zangs explore the idea of molting, of emptying yourself through dance and live music. Driven by a musical score of drums, electric guitar and synths, the performance expresses the need to change skin and shed all substance, as well as the need to embody yourself, to fill your own container.

In the late 1990s and 2000s, Godard had a series of unrealized projects with Claude Lanzmann, Bernard-Henri Lévy and Marcel Ophuls relating to the Holocaust, Jewishness and Palestine–Israel. He also had several related solo ventures, including a contemporary version of Vercors’ 1942 World War II novel Le Silence de la mer (The Silence of the Sea), which Jean-Pierre Melville had adapted as his first feature. In Godard’s planned film, to be called Le Silence de la terre (The Silence of the Earth), the action was to be transposed from occupied France to occupied Palestine. Although he abandoned this project, it informed his luminous 2004 Sarajevo-set feature Notre musique (Our Music). This program also includes the stunning short film that Godard made in 1993 in protest at the refusal of European governments to take action over the siege of Sarajevo, Je vous salue, Sarajevo (Hail Sarajevo, 1993).

This site-specific performance brings together dancers Asha Thomas and Robert Cornejo to present excerpts of Gounouj In Situ, a work by choreographer Léo Lérus inspired by the natural beauty of his native Guadeloupe and the island’s resilient ability to adapt to the impact of human activity. The dancers’ movement mirrors the complex mix of feelings around environmental preservation, juxtaposing disappointment and anger with an enduring hope and a shared movement toward a positive future.

Introduced and book signing of Across the Movi-Verse: Writing on Film, 2011–2021 with J. Hoberman

To celebrate the publication of Across the Movi-verse, a brand-new anthology of J. Hoberman’s previously uncollected essays, tributes, reviews and ruminations from his post-Village Voice career, on subjects including the films of the Obama era, film maudit, Chantal Akerman, and Triumph of the Will, L’Alliance New York welcomes the legendary critic to present Jean Rouch’s seminal feature Moi, un noir, considered by Jean-Luc Godard to be “The greatest French film since the Liberation.”