Jean-Luc Godard

Born in 1930, Jean-Luc Godard became acquainted, while at university, with Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, forming part of a group of passionate young film critics writing in Cahiers du Cinéma, and film-makers devoted to exploring new possibilities in cinema. A bout de souffle (Breathless) (1959) was his first feature. Made on a shoe-string budget, it was spontaneous, vibrant and ground breakingly original. From then until 1967/8 was loosely his first period when he made an astonishing number of films, sometimes 3 a year. From 68 Godard was very involved in political film-making, and then made a series of programmes for French TV in the mid and late 70’s. With Sauve qui peut (la vie) or Slow Motion, Godard could be said to start a 3rd period through the 80’s. In the 90’s he started more formal experimentation, specifically with his long series Histoire(s) du Cinéma. His films have influenced film-makers as diverse as Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino and Wong Kar-Wai. His latest film, Film Socialisme, received its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard) to great acclaim. Jean-Luc Godard was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2010.