Agnès Varda
France,
1985
Sandrine Bonnaire won the Best Actress César for her portrayal of the defiant young drifter Mona, found frozen to death in a ditch at the beginning of Vagabond. Agnès Varda pieces together Mona’s story through flashbacks told by those who encountered her (played by a largely nonprofessional cast), producing a splintered portrait of an enigmatic woman. With its sparse, poetic imagery, _Vagabond_ (_Sans toit ni loi_) is a stunner, and won Varda the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.