“One of the funniest artifacts of the liberated 1960s.” (Vincent Canby, New York Times)

Agnès Varda brings New York counterculture to Los Angeles. In a rented house in the sun-soaked Hollywood Hills, three flower children—Viva (of Warhol Factory fame), James Rado, and Gerome Ragni (who created and starred in the rock musical Hair)—delight in one another’s bodies while musing on love, stardom, and politics. They are soon joined by underground director Shirley Clarke (Portrait of Jason), who simultaneously plays herself and functions as a surrogate for Varda as they contend with the alternating currents of whimsy and tragedy that suffused America at the time. Varda and her filmmaker husband Jacques Demy lived in Hollywood from 1968 to 1970, when she also shot Black Panthers, a short film including an interview with the group’s incarcerated leader, Huey P. Newton, which can be seen in our Shorts Program A package.