Cinévardaphoto is made up of three short films (Ydessa, the Bears and etc., Ulysse, Salut les Cubains) connected by the theme of photography, the medium that gave Varda her start and spurred the meditations on memory that would define her career. First, she roams a Toronto-based curator’s exhibition of thousands of teddy bears and excavates the historical and personal roots of her quest. Then, Varda revisits models from one of her earliest photographs, probing the differences between their recollections of the same encounter. Finally, in her images of Cuba in the 1960s, Varda lenses artists, political icons, and everyday people, charting a country’s cultural journey through revolution. All three discrete films dovetail at the intersection of reality and image, and strive to capture life at the center.

Playing as part of Varda: A Retrospective, December 20-January 6. See showtimes & get tickets.