The term “New Wave” can conjure two artistic visions: First, there is the revolutionary chic French cinematic trend (a k a Nouvelle Vague) set into motion by directors Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol, and others in the late ’50s and into the ’60s. Its influential ripples continue through today. Second, on a more street-based, pop-cultural level, New Wave was glibly co-opted by the commercialized post-punk pop scene of the ’80s to describe the music of Talking Heads, B-52s, the Police, and the like.
In regard to the upcoming series at UCSB’s Pollock Theater, the term is strictly cinematic. According to organizer Patrice Petro, a professor in UCSB’s film and media department, the movies selected “each attempt to use cinema in ways that express what had been unexpressable.”
As with earlier Pollock Theater series, the New Waves was organized by Petro and her colleagues, which include professors Cristina Venegas and Anna Brusutti, and PhD student Wesley Jacks, and follows intriguing earlier programs, such as Hollywood Berlin (with a memorable visit from dryly charismatic maverick director Werner Herzog) in 2017, and, earlier this year, the Beatles Revolution series, with guests including Beatles biographer Ivor Davis and former Beatles engineer (and area veteran rock star of note) Alan Parsons.