Jean-Luc Godard’s closest collaborator, cinematographer Fabrice Aragno, will be on hand to present Godard’s “Phony Wars” at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s being dubbed as the “trailer of the film that will never exist” and his “final” film.
According to Aragno, “Phony Wars” was shot on 35mm, 16mm, and Super 8—35mm shot black-and-white, the other two color—while the other new Godard, “Scénario,” appears “more in a classic video style with some Super-8 images, not with 35mm.”
“Scénario” isn’t set to make an appearance at Cannes. The 20-minute “Phony Wars” will. Godard “often transformed his synopses into aesthetic programs,” the press release states. “Phony Wars” follows in that tradition and will remain as his “ultimate” gesture of cinema.
Nicole Brenez dedicated these last few years to working with the late Godard. Researcher, teacher and programmer, she’s confirmed that Godard left an abundant amount of films before his assisted suicide a few months ago.
Brenez told French outlet Critikat that we could look forward to those other films in the near future:
"I can tell you that [FUNNY WARS] will not be his last film. Before leaving, Jean-Luc planned, directed and supervised several others. Fabrice Aragno and Jean-Paul Battaggia are hard at work to complete them. We’ll be seeing a lot of cinematic treasures he left us with, very diverse films.
We know that prior to his death in early fall, Godard was working on two films: “Scénario” and “Funny Wars.” In October, during her MoMA installation, Artist Mitra Farahani was slyly credited as the producer of “Scénario.”
Godard was a God of the medium, having advanced it more than any other person save for the Lumieres brothers or George Melies. He’s always strayed far away from conventional cinema and instead opted to make films in bold, original, and vital fashion.