Saint Laurent pays homage to Jean-Luc Godard at Cannes

The double thread between Saint Laurent and cinema will be renewed at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where the brand will present two short films in the official selection. Alongside Pedro Almodóvar's Strange Way of Life - an unusual western, given the Spanish director's previous output - a short film about Jean-Luc Godard promises to detail the creative process of the legendary Franco-Swiss auteur, the pioneer of the 1960s French Nouvelle Vague, who died last September at the age of 91. «The unconventional short film project details the ideas, references and imagery for a film that was never made, giving viewers a rare glimpse into the mind and process of a genius» the brand, which last month launched a subsidiary that not only finances or makes costumes but also produces films, revealed to WWD.

The Cannes Film Festival presented Godard's 20-minute short film last Friday as part of the Cannes Classics & Cinéma de la Plage selection. The program honoring the director at the festival is titled Memories of Jean-Luc Godard and also includes an exclusive documentary and screening of a 4K restoration of his 1963 film Le Mépris. «I greatly admired Jean-Luc Godard, one of the most influential masters of cinema,» Vaccarello said in a brief statement obtained by WWD. The designer, who has been the creative director of Saint Laurent since 2016, has made the connection between the historic luxury fashion house and the arthouse cinema. He also has feature films in the pipeline with directors David Cronenberg and Paolo Sorrentino and paid homage to Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodóvar, Abel Ferrara, and David Cronenberg with The Director's Cut campaign last January.