The "New Waves," or "Nouvelle Vague," a film and art movement that invoked France between 1958 and 1962 and later swept the world, still impacts China's cultural scene today.

When curators with the Pompidou Art Center in Paris presented French masterpieces of the "New Waves" at an exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum, it naturally aroused public enthusiasm in the metropolis.

Visitors have queued in lines before important exhibits on display since the exhibition, entitled "New Waves, Modern Art in the Collection of the Pompidou Art Center," opened on January 17.

The exhibition, which runs until February 25, features 13 movies, 10 videos, 26 paintings, 30 photos and seven installations.

"We expect visitors to have a bird's eye view of the French modern art, so we've included movies and paintings from the 1960s, works of photography from the 1980s, and videos and installations from the 1990s," said a Pompidou spokesman.

Broadcast at the exhibition are movies by directors including Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Charbrol and Eric Rohmer.

"Scenes of the movies shown look like paintings, and the dynamic paintings look like movies," remarked Lin Jieming, a visitor.

"That's the point," said Bruno Racine, president of the Pompidou.

"We'd like to show how the rivers of different art forms, including those of painting, movie, photography, video and installation that come across at the 'New Waves,"' he said.

(China Daily February 3, 2005)