Viva Varda! Il cinema è donna

From Thursday 5 March 2026 to Sunday 10 January 2027, the Galleria Modernissimo in Bologna will host the exhibition Viva Varda! Cinema is a woman, dedicated to Agnès Varda.

A 1,200 m² journey through the life of a unique figure in the history of cinema, art, photography, political and cultural activism, spanning the 20th and 21st centuries.

The first female director to be awarded an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement (presented to her by Angelina Jolie in 2017), the first female director to win at Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Berlin, and San Sebastian, Agnès Varda is the focus of the exhibition Viva Varda! Cinema is Woman (curated by Florence Tissot, with artistic direction by Rosalie Varda), at the Galleria Modernissimo in Bologna from 5 March 2026 to 10 January 2027, produced by the Cineteca di Bologna and La Cinémathèque française, with institutional support from the Municipality of Bologna, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with Ciné-Tamaris, with main sponsor Gruppo Hera and sponsors Selenella and Coop Alleanza 3.0.

The exhibition Viva Varda! Cinema is woman was created in close dialogue with the exhibition Agnès Varda. Here and there, between Paris and Rome, on display at Villa Medici in Rome from 25 February to 25 May.

Films, photos, installations, memorabilia and costumes: Viva Varda! bears witness to a personal, creative and multifaceted body of work that embraces painting, the Nouvelle Vague, Jacques Demy, theatre and cats, Fidel Castro, Jim Morrison, Jane Birkin, Catherine Deneuve, Marcello Mastroianni, Madonna and Jean-Luc Godard.

A globetrotting artist, Varda developed a career that earned her international fame. Her work is marked by feminist commitment, which the exhibition presents in all its relevance.

It will be divided into several sections, dedicated to the relationship between Agnès and images (self-portraits, photography, painting, but also a taste for unexpected combinations), writing for cinema (in particular the creation of profound and surprising female characters), the social and nomadic dimension of her films (her taste for documenting the world, political upheavals and cultural changes) and will be enriched by a section entirely dedicated to the relationship between Agnès Varda and Italy.