FAR FROM VIETNAM

Finally restored for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Far From Vietnam was produced in the midst of the Vietnam war. Masterfully assembled into a unified work by Chris Marker (A Grin Without a Cat, Sans Soleil, La Jetée) the film consists of distinctive chapters directed by Jean LucGodard, Joris Ivens, Agnès Varda, William Klein, Alain Resnais, Claude Lelouch, and Marker himself. In each remarkable section, these luminary filmmakers of the French “left” pursued and reflected on the contributions their own cinema might make to the struggle ongoing in Vietnam, while they themselves often remained “far from Vietnam”. The result is a searing anti war portmanteau crafted by some of political cinema’s finest auteurs. Though rarely seen and only recently restored to this 35mm print, Far From Vietnam remains one of the most powerful works of cinematic protest ever fashioned. Moreover, the questions it asks, both of cinema and of political solidarities in general, continue to resonate with those faced when seeking to disrupt imperialism or oppression “from afar” today.

Director: Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard (segment), Chris Marker &Alain Resnais (segment)

Release Date: 1967

Duration 115minx