Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Sensual Neo-Noir ‘Diva’ Debuts 35mm Re-Release — Watch the Trailer

French director Jean-Jacques Beineix made his feature debut with “Diva,” which now lands a 35mm re-release 40 years after first premiering in 1982. Exclusively on IndieWire, watch the trailer for the re-release below.

The neo-noir thriller was an international arthouse sensation, originally playing for over a year in select cinemas. “Diva” won four French Césars including Best First Film, Best Music, Best Sound, and Philippe Rousselot’s cinematography, and launched the cinéma du look movement of punk-inspired French films in the 1980s.

Now, “Diva” will be presented in 35mm at New York City’s Film Forum starting April 29 before expanding nationally to the Los Feliz Theatre in Los Angeles and other major markets. A new trailer edited by William Hohauser announced the 2022 theatrical run.

The film centers on a young postman infatuated with an American opera singer who gets caught up in international espionage when he attempts to circulate a bootleg recording of her performance.

Beineix began his career as an assistant director to filmmakers including Claude Berri, Rene Clement, and Jerry Lewis before making “Diva.” He later went on to helm the Oscar-nominated 1986 film “Betty Blue,” as well as “Mortal Transfer” and “Roselyne and the Lions.” Beineix’s last film was TV documentary “Les Gaulois au-delá du mythe” in 2013. The filmmaker wrote a three-part autobiography and died in January 2022 at age 75 after battling leukemia.

Reflecting on the evolution of French cinema, Beineix told The Hollywood Reporter in 2009 that movies aren’t “as daring” as when he was younger.

“It’s probably due to the fact that less and less people are making the decisions. It’s more like a bureaucracy aimed at making money and getting a commercial response,” Beineix  said. “I wish we could escape from the standard of mass production and commercial production, but it’s the same problem all over the world. I think it’s worse than ever. It’s a vicious circle. There’s too much attention paid to the return on investment. We’re slowly erasing all of our difference to serve the global market. The cinema has a huge role to play in society, because everything is intertwined.”

Beineix continued, “The cinema is still the greatest art form. There’s still the same need to have a living cinema, one not just aimed at giving excitation or filling a satisfaction of basic desires. We need a cinema that thinks.”

“Diva” premieres April 29 at Film Forum.