Both a precursor to and a critical member of the French New Wave, Agnès Varda weaves documentary and fiction into tapestries that portray distinctive places and complex human beings. Critics and aficionados have celebrated Varda''s independence and originality since the New Wave touchstone Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) brought her a level of international acclaim she has yet to relinquish.

Film historian Kelley Conway traces Varda''s works from her 1954 debut La Pointe Courte through a varied career that includes nonfiction and fiction shorts and features, installation art, and the triumphant 2008 documentary The Beaches of Agnès . Drawing on Varda''s archives and conversations with the filmmaker, Conway focuses on the concrete details of how Varda makes films: a project''s emergence, its development and the shifting forms of its screenplay, the search for financing, and the execution from casting through editing and exhibition.

In the process, she departs from film history''s traditional view of the French New Wave and reveals one artist''s nontraditional trajectory through independent filmmaking. The result is an intimate consideration that reveals the artistic consistencies and bold changes in the career of one of the world''s most exuberant and intriguing directors