Portland delights in its weirdness. Graffiti is slapped across every accessible — and seemingly inaccessible — surface. This is a point of pride for some locals and a point of contention for others. But what those who curmudgeonly bemoan graffiti miss is the way that public art can be used for good. Wondering how this can be? Look no further than Agnès Varda Forever, a public art project turned film festival that supports female filmmakers.
The Agnès Varda Forever Festival is hosted by Clinton Street Theater with the help of local artists, Laura Glazer and Jennifer “JJ” Jones, who are self-proclaimed “Varda fans for life.” During March, the theater shows films by French director Agnès Varda while Jones and Glazer act as artists in residence. In this role, they create engaging activities and displays for the public, such as a tiny working theater diorama. However, Jones and Glazer’s original project started with plastering posters across Portland that boldly stated “Agnès Varda Forever,” simply aiming to make people aware of Varda.
This desire to get Varda the attention she deserves originated from a scene familiar to those who went through the pandemic; Jones spent 2020 cooped up inside watching movies with her son and husband, which is when she dove into Varda’s works. They watched “The Gleaners and I,” and, in Jones’ words, “just couldn’t stop talking about it.” As she spoke to friends and family, she was surprised to learn that most had never heard of the movie, much less Varda.
Jones began to brainstorm how she could make people more aware of the director. She recalls, “I said to my son, ‘I wish I could just … make a billboard that said “Agnès Fucking Varda.”’” She wouldn’t end up making a billboard, but later that week, under the cover of darkness, she painted a telephone pole on Ainsworth Street with the words “Agnès Varda Forever.”
Glazer spotted the pole while driving by and immediately emailed Jones — who she’d become friends with through the Portland Correspondence Co-op and knew to be a fellow Varda fan. It turned out Jones was planning to paint a version near Glazer’s apartment, but Glazer discovered this one before she could. Glazer states, “[I was] so floored that serendipity made me cross paths with it.”
Months later, this brief exchange came to Glazer’s mind when one of her graduate school classes gave her $100 to commission anyone to do anything. She reached out to Jones and asked her to continue the Agnès Varda Forever project.
Jones laughs, “I was like, ‘What the hell, it’s not a project … I just did this one thing.’” However, this made her realize that due to the pandemic, telephone poles had been stripped of their usual smothering layer of flyers, and she decided to shift her focus to posters. She and Glazer workshopped the design and ended up with a tracing of her original graffiti, adding pull tabs with summaries of Varda’s movies. Jones’ neighbor, Mykle, offered to risograph print — essentially digitally screen-print — the posters, and a mutual friend at the Portland Stamp Company perforated the pull tabs. The final result of this collaboration was over 500 copies in a rainbow of colors.
Upon finishing making the posters and while recovering from ovarian cancer, Jones “had all the time in the world.” So, she decided that every time she went out she was just going to “post them all over.” Glazer shared the project on Instagram, and #AgnèsVardaForever soon gained traction. The project spread, with posters popping up in places ranging from Texas to Colombia.
Aaron Colter, the current owner — then just an employee — of Clinton Street Theater, took note of the project. He invited Jones and Glazer to select films for a multi-day Varda-themed festival. This marked the beginning of the Agnès Varda Forever Festival, which was repeated in 2023 and will return this year. The festival will be held March 6-9, and attendees can expect to see films in a multitude of genres and styles.
Varda’s work spanned from documentary, to drama, to musical, and she released films starting in 1955 and continuing until 2019, the year of her death. Writer, curator, and Vice President of Film at the production company PASTEL, Kiva Reardon, attributes Varda’s longevity and creativity to her curiosity. “I can’t say that I knew her, but I got to interview her and spend some time with her when she was at [the Toronto International Film Festival],” Reardon describes. “I was just so struck walking around with her, how she would pause and ask questions, and was taking in everything around her.”
Varda’s continuous questioning produced films that Reardon calls “deeply humanistic.” While they aren’t overtly feminist, they often touch on feminist themes such as abortion and marriage. “There’s a definite through thread in terms of exploring the lives of women, exploring the lives of people at the margins,” says Reardon.
In addition, Varda’s unique role as a female filmmaker in the ‘50s has turned her into a sort of modern feminist icon. “I think sometimes there’s a perception that female filmmakers are relatively new,” Colter explains. “But Agnès Varda proves that they’ve been a part of filmmaking since the beginning.”
The festival embodies Varda’s feminist spirit through their support of community organizations. Beyond just raising awareness for Varda’s work, the festival donates profits from some of the merch to Power of Women Film Fest, a Portland organization that hosts a film festival every year, and offers year-round film workshops for women and nonbinary people. As Glazer puts it, “The idea [is that the project] would support the development of the next Agnès Varda.”
Although Varda is now revered as the mother of the French New Wave and received countless accolades during the later years of her life, for much of her career she made her films on a budget. Yet, according to Glazer, they’re “successful regardless of how well-funded [they were]” — something that has rung true for the festival as well. Even if seats are left empty during showings, the seats that are filled are more than enough to make the room come alive. As Jones explains, “The main goal is just to get more people to watch more Agnès movies. It’s still the same goal it was at the very beginning.”
This applies to this year’s festival as well, which will be showing a mix of Varda’s popular films alongside her more underground work. “We have a few things up our sleeves, and we’ll probably think of more,” remarks Jones. Whether you’re a true Vardaholic or have never heard of her before, there’ll be something for you. To find the festival schedule and purchase tickets go to cstpdx.com.
