Faces Places is a French documentary film directed by Agnes Varda and JR. I have never watched film like this before and when I started watching this film, its actually quite interesting and it invites me to want to watch further. Varda and JR collaborate and come out with this playful yet powerful documentary in understand France by looking closely at its people. They travel the country and going to tiny villages in attempt to find good topics for their work.

Their collaboration work actually brings people in the area closer together and have a common topic to talk about. Just like the work where they invite people to his mobile photo booth and get them to hold one long baguette. When put together on the wall, it feels like the whole village is sharing the same one long baguette. Varda aims to meet new faces and photograph them which works well in this work when the photo booth became a gather point at that moment where people are curious in finding out what is happening and come together to create this wonderful piece.

I personally feel more with regards to the last person living in a set of old miners’ homes. Miners were an integral part of the community back then and many people living nearby have a story to tell. These homes are the last link to the history of miners. Varda and JR put together old photographs and taking new photos, they paste the images of people at the exterior of the homes who once live in the homes. This actually brings back much memories to those people who once stayed there where they have a story to share.

The last women, Jeanine who stayed in that area was overwhelmed with emotions when she see the photograph pasted outside her house. To other people, it might just be any other photos but to her, it’s her whole life story. Through the photo, we can only imagine how much she went through but the tears she shed is something we cannot imagine.

The people they found are all part of the work they are doing and coming out with this film. This film actually makes people feel recognised and it’s about making the invisible visible. It allows the people to feel seen and appreciated through the photos. Every photo have a story to tell and it evokes one’s emotion/memory.