A young film critic aspires to make his first feature in Director Richard Linklater’s comedic drama, Nouvelle Vague.

In his love letter to the French New Wave, Linklater’s film takes us back to 1959 when Jean-Luc Godard and his friends had to overcome all kinds of challenges on the way to making Godard’s cinematic masterpiece, Breathless.

On November 16, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Linklater discussed the making of Nouvelle Vague during a Q&A moderated by Director Jason Reitman (Saturday Night).

During the conversation, Linklater spoke about the power to craft cinematic moments.

“I think film can do that really well. Intimate little moments… it captures it so beautifully. I think that’s the power of the medium. You do a close-up. You see some kid staring at something. You’re saying it’s important. The Director gets to say what’s important just by what you’re emphasizing, and the audience goes with it. Where you might miss it in real life if something’s happening here, you miss that moment. But we get to choose and emphasize and steer, take the eyes and the spirit somewhere you want to take it for whatever reasons.”

Linklater’s other directorial credits include the feature films Slacker, Dazed and Confused, SubUrbia, School of Rock, Bernie, Last Flag Flying, Hit Man, Blue Moon and Where'd You Go, Bernadette and the award-nominated trilogy Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight. He was nominated for an Academy Award and the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for his 2014 feature Boyhood. He has been a member of the DGA since 1997.