Vernon Film Society takes a tour through France

Special to The Morning Star

The Vernon Film Society will be screening its third film of the New Year, Faces Places, Feb. 26.

Directed by Agnès Varda, now 89-years-old, and JR, thirty-something, the film is a kind of travelogue in which the pair roam from place to place in JR’s truck which is decorated to look like a camera.

Varda and JR have two things in common: a passion for images in general and for ways of showing, sharing and exhibiting them. Varda chose cinema while JR chose to create open air photography galleries. When they met in 2015, they immediately wanted to work together, to shoot a film in France far away from cities, during a trip in JR’s photographic truck.

In each place, they meet people — coal miners, cheese makers, farmers — and JR makes enormous portraits of them. The pair then fixes the portraits to buildings all over the various towns, merging faces with places.

Faces Places also tells the story of Varda and JR’s friendship, which grew stronger throughout the film shoot, between surprises and teasing, and while laughing about their differences. For example, Varda is annoyed at JR’s refusal to remove his sunglasses, which she says reminds her of Jean Luc Godard in the ‘60s.

“This rich cross-generational exchange speaks to the persistence of French cinematic culture …… while the doc itself is a delight, subtle, touching, and entertaining,” wrote Kate Taylor, with The Globe and Mail.

Faces Places screens Feb. 26 at the Vernon Towne Cinema at the regular times of 5:15 and 7:45 pm. Tickets are available one week ahead at the theatre and the Bean Scene Coffee House for $7. Cash only. Rated PG.