THE GLEANERS AND I (LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE)
By Agnès Varda
About the Film
A reflection on the humble act of gleaning, commonly illustrated by Jean-François Millet’s famous 1857 painting Les glaneuses (The Gleaners) in encyclopaedias, inspires director Agnès Varda to set out on a journey to document the stories of modern-day gleaners who forage for what mainstream society discards. Her chance encounters and conversations with these who live on the margins take her on a joyful adventure across France, from the markets of Paris to the Avignon countryside to the island of Noirmoutier. “Gleaning, that’s the old way,” declares one farmer, speaking of the practice as collective wisdom imparted from one generation to another. Elsewhere in the film, this understanding is affirmed by a lawyer who cites a 1554 edict that allows the poor, the wretched, and the deprived to enter the fields and glean once the harvest was over.
With her handheld camera, Varda posits herself as a type of gleaner—of images, impressions, emotions. In the film, her expansive vision makes room for ruminations on everything, from aging to the birth of cinema to the charm of heart-shaped potatoes rejected by supermarkets for appearing “deformed”. Following her self-reflexive gaze, the viewer is led to identify with otherness. Gradually, the humanity and contributions of those who glean to rehabilitate also come into focus. Artists who transform found objects from the streets into art, giving them “a second chance”. A man who obtains all his food from rubbish bins as a matter of principle, in his personal fight against overconsumption. A vegetarian with a Master’s degree who saves money by scavenging and gives free classes to illiterate immigrants at his shelter daily. By turns playful, philosophical, and satirical, The Gleaners and I is an essay film that sensitively engages with the incongruities of consumer culture, by an artist who, like her subjects, finds unexpected riches where few think to look.
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Opening Film
Magellan is an intimate portrait of the 16th century Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, starring Gael García Bernal in the titular role.
Art History, Co-authored
Art History, Co-authored presents films that explore seminal moments in art and film history.
Artist Films
Presenting films made by artists, this year includes an emphasis on early documentaries by Southeast Asian practitioners and a full-length movie independently made during the Marcos regime in the Philippines. National Gallery Singapore commissioned the digital restoration of two artists’ films on 16mm, Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado’s 1978 Footages and Briccio Santos’ Damortis, which are world premiering at Painting with Light.
Exhibition Readings
Exhibition Readings presents film programmes conceived in response to the art in the Gallery’s ongoing exhibitions.
Southeast Asian Shorts
Southeast Asian Shorts presents short films on the stories of Southeast Asia. This year’s programme is co-curated by independent programmer Viknesh Kobinathan, and festival curator Pauline Soh.
Movement Pieces
Movement Pieces celebrates the visual poetry found in moving image art. It features short films that convey meaning through non-verbal modes of communication, like gesture and musicality, in lieu of dialogue.
Closing
We Are Toast is an expanded cinema performance by Mark Chua and Lam Li Shuen that utilises multiple 16mm film projectors to create a live film.