Jean-Luc Godard was the last surviving major figure of the French New Wave, a late-1950s movement of young critics turned filmmakers who rejected polished studio conventions. His debut Breathless in 1960 used jump cuts, improvised-feeling scenes and digressions to bring Paris to life on screen. Through the 1960s he made films that stitched together genre plots, adverts, quotations and political debate, which made him the defining voice of that decade's restless youth. After 1968 he turned to experimental, politically charged work and became a more difficult figure for mainstream audiences.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.