Doc nominees attend star-studded Oscar Luncheon

Agnès Varda, in cutout form, attends with Faces Places co-director JR

Artist JR (in sunglasses and peach jacket) poses for the Oscar Luncheon group photo with a cutout of his "Faces Places" co-director Agnès Varda. Beverly Hills, Monday, February 5, 2018. Photo from A.M.P.A.S.

Agnès Varda didn't make the Oscar Luncheon in Beverly Hills Monday, the only one of the Best Documentary Feature nominees who wasn't present. Nonetheless, she did make an appearance of sorts.

Her Faces Places co-director, the mischievous photographer and artist JR, brought a couple of cutouts of the 89-year-old director to the event, posing with them on the red carpet and during the "class photo" of all the nominees on hand. In the documentary Varda and JR travel around rural France in a van equipped with a mobile photo studio, taking large-scale images of ordinary people that they then affix to buildings. So the idea of bringing a cutout of Varda fit nicely with the film's motifs.

JR with another of the cutouts he brought of Agnès Varda, his co-director on "Faces Places." Beverly Hills, Monday, February 5, 2018. Photo by Chris Pizzello for Invision/AP

The annual Luncheon drew a majority of this year's Oscar nominees, including acting nominees Meryl Streep, Saoirse Ronan, Gary Oldman, Timothée Chalamet, Margot Robbie, Willem Dafoe, Sam Rockwell and directors Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig, among others. 

Icarus director Bryan Fogel attended the Luncheon, telling Nonfictionfilm.com he had to go shopping beforehand for proper attire.

"I bought a suit because believe it or not I don't own a suit," he told us. "I have multiple sport coats and I always wear them with a pair of jeans and so I literally bought a suit yesterday."

Bryan Fogel in the portrait studio at the Oscar Luncheon. Beverly Hills, Monday, February 5, 2018. Photo by Chris Pizzello for Invision/AP

Last Men in Aleppo director Feras Fayyad flew from Copenhagen, Denmark, where he now lives, to attend the Luncheon. Steve James came from Chicago, his longtime home, attending the Directors Guild Awards over the weekend where he was nominated for his film Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.

Steve James and fellow nominees applaud as the class of 2018 gathers for a photo in the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Beverly Hills, Monday, February 5, 2018. Photo from Getty Images

"Last Men in Aleppo" director Feras Fayyad in the Oscar portrait studio at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Photo by Chris Pizzello for Invision/AP

Strong Island director Yance Ford attended with his fellow nominee and producer of the film, Joslyn Barnes.

Director Yance Ford and producer Joslyn Barnes of "Strong Island" attend the Oscar Luncheon in Beverly Hills on Monday, February 5, 2018. Photo by Getty Images/Steve Granitz

This year's Academy Award nominees gather for a group photo at the Oscar Luncheon. Beverly Hills, Monday, February 5, 2018. Photo from A.M.P.A.S.