Jacques Demy (1931 - 1990) was one of the most important directors of the Nouvelle Vague. He started as the assistant of the documentarist Georges Rouquier. Then, after some outstanding documentary work, he passed over to the direction of a subject long-running film, Lola, donna di vita (1961), one of the most extraordinary films of the whole movement. Particularly attracted to sentimental drama, Demy was the author of two of the most important French musicals: Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1963) and Les demoiselles de Rochefort (1966). They both starred the sisters Francoise DorleÌac and Catherine Deneuve.