French director Jacques Rivette, a secretive pioneer of convention-bashing New Wave film who brought renown to women actors such as Emmanuelle Beart, has died aged 87.

Rivette's films - like many of the New Wave era - routinely appeared at elite film festivals though did not always enjoy commercial success.

French president Francois Hollande, in a statement announcing Rivette's death, hailed him for creating film's with major female roles.

Among them were his first film, La Religieuse (The Nun), the award-winning La Belle Noiseuse (The Beautiful Troublemaker) in 1991, and a 1996 version of the Joan of Arc story called Jeanne la Pucelle.

Serge Toubiana, head of the Cinematheque museum in Paris, described on France-Info radio Rivette's "sense of conspiracy, sense of secrecy" and the "magnificent place" he provided to women characters.

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