Father Of French New-Wave, Jean-Luc Godard Passes Away At 91; World Cinema Mourns

Renowned French director Jean-Luc Godard (91), who advanced the medium of cinema through his own experimental ways, has passed away. He was one of the flag-bearers of the French New Wave cinema, which deeply influenced world cinema. From the 1960s Breathless to 2018's The Image Book, his filmography is inevitable for a film student. He was also a favorite director of Malayalees who love world cinema through the film society movement. Last year's IFFK Outstanding Contribution Award went to Goddard. Although he was not there in person, he interacted with the delegates through a video message.

Godard began his association with cinema in the late '50s by writing film reviews for the French film magazine Caye du Cinéma. Godard was a fierce critic of the conservatism of French cinema and Hollywood at the time, both as a medium and in content. Many of the regular writers of Caye du Cinema, including François Truffaut, soon moved into filmmaking. With the first film, Breathless, Godard was able to realize the ideas he had communicated through writing about cinema. With films like "Breathless" and "Contempt," two of the most revered directors ever, Godard pushed the frontiers of cinema and served as an inspiration to iconoclastic filmmakers for decades after his 1960s peak. His films defied the accepted norms of French cinema and contributed to the emergence of a fresh style of filmmaking, complete with handheld camera work, jump cuts, and existential dialogue.