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In the 1960s, pioneering French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard introduced the world to a new cinematic lexicon, generated from his innovative, auteurist style. Between 1960 and 1967 alone, he made fifteen features (beginning with his groundbreaking début, Breathless)—and it’s this period that regular Criterion Collection contributor :: kogonada explores in a new video essay highlighting the iconic director’s signature themes and devices. Watch the piece above, and if you’re in London, check out the British Film Institute’s comprehensive Godard retrospective running now through March 16.

You can view more of :: kogonada’s works for the Criterion Collection here and at kogonada.com.

My only small complaint about this otherwise fantastic video essay on Jean-Luc Godard is the negligence of Les Carabiniers (1963) - a film which deals directly with the issues of world-as-images, metaphor of camera, and the technique of visuality.