CF’s Ira Holmes International Film Series opens with French New Wave classic

Cover artwork for the Criterion Collection-released version of the film on DVD.

The College of Central Florida (CF) Ira Holmes International Film Series kicks off on Jan. 25, opening its 60^th season with Agnès Varda’s vérité melodrama, “Cléo from 5 to 7.”

Released in 1962, the French New Wave classic chronicles “the minutes of one woman’s life,” while expressively capturing “Paris in the 1960s,” according to CF’s press release. The film centers on a singer (played by Corinne Marchand) who is set adrift while waiting for the test results from a recent biopsy.

The film also features a score by Michel Legrand (“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”) and cameos by new wave icons director Jean-Luc Godard and actress Anna Karina.

The French New Wave movement was an “explosion of vibrant, innovative and highly self-conscious films from France in the late 1950s and early 1960s,” according to The Criterion Collection’s website, influencing cinema as it exists today.

“Cléo from 5 to 7” will be shown at 2 p.m. at the Appleton Museum of Art, located at 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., and at 7 p.m., at the CF Ocala campus, 3001 S.W. College Road, Building 8, Room 110. To view the film’s trailer, click here.

The public is invited to the 60^th Anniversary Kickoff Reception at 6:30 p.m. Professor Ira Holmes will introduce the film as a special guest at the 7 p.m. screening.

Dr. Rebecca J. DeRoo, author of “Agnes Varda between the Film, Photography, and Art,” will host an online film talk on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 12:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Future films in the series, all from the year 1962, when Professor Holmes first began the long-running program, include:

• “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” directed by Ishirō Honda, showing on Feb. 8 (special location: Ocala Drive-In), with a film talk by CF Associate Professor Jay Thompson on Feb. 9
• “Ivan’s Childhood,” directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, showing on Feb. 22, with a film talk by Professor Delmar G. Jacobs Jr. on Feb. 23
• “Boccaccio ’70,” directed by Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti, showing on March 8, with a film talk by Dr. Silvo Gaggi on March 9
• “To Kill a Mockingbird,” directed by Robert Mulligan, showing on March 29, with a film talk by Dr. Gilbert B. Rodman on March 30

A bonus 1962 film shorts festival, featuring Chris Marker’s “La Jetée,” Louis Malle’s “Vive le Tour” and more, is scheduled for April 12.

Films at the Ocala campus are free and open to the public, while films at the Appleton are free to all museum and film series members; nonmembers must pay museum admission.

Be advised that some films in the series may contain mature content.

For more details, visit CF.edu/filmseries.