Tributes To Jean-Luc Godard Pour In From The World Of Cinema And Beyond

Tributes to Jean-Luc Godard, a pioneering and iconic leader of French cinema, began to flood in immediately after it was reported that the director died today, aged 91, with figures from the world of cinema, politics and beyond remembering the filmmaker for his powerful, singular work.

French President Emmanuel Macron was among the first to pay tribute to Godard with a short message on social media, saying France has lost a “national treasure” and calling the director the most “iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers.”

Best known for his radical and politically driven work, Godard was among the most acclaimed directors of his generation with classic films such as Breathless (A bout de souffle), which catapulted him onto the world scene in 1960.

Speaking on France Info radio shortly after the news broke, Jack Lang, former Culture Minister of France, said Godard was “Unique, absolutely unique… He wasn’t just cinema, he was philosophy, poetry…”

Gilles Jacob, former president of the Cannes Film Festival, described Godard as the “Picasso of cinema” in a social media tribute Tuesday.

In a statement, President of France’s National Cinema Center, Dominique Boutonnat, called Godard a “totemic figure of world cinema, an immense artist and a provocative genius.”

The Berlin Film Festival said it is mourning the loss of Godard. Noted Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, “Godard shaped cinema in the sixties, and has since then consistently renewed cinema and expanded the visual experience. To this day, Jean-Luc Godard inspires filmmakers worldwide.”

Godard found most acclaim with his seminal works of the 1960s, including Le Petit Soldat, which was banned until 1963, and starred the director’s future wife, Anna Karina. Remarking on Godard’s radical and passionate approach to cinema, British director Edgar Wright said today, “It was ironic that he himself revered the Hollywood studio filmmaking system, as perhaps no other director inspired as many people to just pick up a camera and start shooting…”

The British Film Institute called Godard a “giant of cinema who ripped up the rule book.”

“From Breathless onwards, he tested the limits of the medium,” the BFI said.

Read more tributes down below. We will share reactions as they come in…