NEW YORK, January 14, 2016 – From Jan. 29 to Feb. 10, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Institut français-Paris, in collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, will present an exhibition of photographs by the late Kate Barry—daughter of Jane Birkin, half-sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg, and formidable artist in her own right—at the Film Society’s Furman Gallery in New York.The exhibition, “Actresses by Kate Barry,” showcases the photography of Kate Barry, Jane Birkin’s daughter with composer John Barry. This exhibition is a tribute to Barry, who tragically died in December 2013, and to film actresses—French film actresses in particular—from well-known stars to new talents.Fifteen 80x60cm photo portraits of female actresses will be displayed at the Film Society’s Furman Gallery, their subjects including Monica Bellucci, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Catherine Deneuve, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Sofia Coppola, Helena Bonham-Carter, Jane Birkin, Isabelle Huppert and Chiara Mastroianni, among others. The silent, atmospheric images and varied settings, poses, and framing reveal Barry’s talent at capturing the intimate lives of iconic actresses and stars.This exhibition will take place during a retrospective of the film work of Jane Birkin and her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Jane and Charlotte Forever,” at the Film Society of Lincoln Center theaters from Jan. 29 – Feb. 7, with 19 films to be screened, including Antichrist (2009) and Melancholia (2011) by Lars von Trier,  La Pirate (1984) by Jacques Doillon, Charlotte For Ever (1986) by Serge Gainsbourg, and Jane B. for Agnès V. (1988) by Agnès Varda, among others. Fascinating, fearless, fiercely committed actresses, Jane Birkin and her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg have been at the vanguard of international cinema for over five decades.  The opening of the retrospective will include screenings of Jacques Doillon’s La Pirate, starring Birkin, and Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, starring Gainsbourg, and an intimate conversation among the actresses between the screenings.Deputy Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy Thomas Michelon stated, “this exhibition highlights the great talent of Kate Barry, a true artist whose acute sensitivity behind the lens has been widely celebrated. Furthermore, it also makes us reflect on the extraordinary power of actresses –captured both in the photos and in the film series – to light up the screen and lend great depth and nuance to an image. This double exhibition and film series event offers a panorama of rare works: essential fodder for any photography or cinema buff.”Bursting onto the scene with a much-talked-about cameo in Michelangelo Antonioni’s seminal Blow-Up (1966), the British-born Birkin went on to become an icon of cool through her association with legendary singer Serge Gainsbourg, and one of France’s most in-demand actresses, conveying a soulful vulnerability in her collaborations with directors like Jacques Rivette, Agnès Varda, and Jacques Doillon. Like her mother, Charlotte Gainsbourg has built her career on adventurous roles for visionary auteurs, crafting a beguiling screen presence defined by an innate intelligence and a raw emotional intensity. Taken together, their body of work is an astonishing, often provocative, and always bold survey of the last half-century of European cinema.

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy promotes the best of French arts, literature, cinema, digital innovation, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington D.C., and eight other cities across the country, the Cultural Services brings artists, authors, intellectuals and innovators to cities nationwide. It also builds partnerships between French and American artists, institutions and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop Albertine, it fosters French-American exchange around literature and the arts. www.frenchculture.org

Film Society of Lincoln CenterFounded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year’s most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Art of the Real, Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, and ScaryMovies. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, the Film Society recognizes an artist’s unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award, whose 2015 recipient was Robert Redford. The Film Society’s state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

Media Contacts:

Cultural Services of the French Embassy:Emilie Cabouat-Peyrache – +1 (212) 439 1417 – emilie.cabouat@diplomatie.gouv.frFrenchculture.org – @franceinnyc – facebook.com/frenchcultureFilm Society of Lincoln Center:Rachel Allen – +1 (212) 875-5423 – rallen@filmlinc.org