Uh, R1 is right. There is no "the"; the musical genre is simply referred to as "New Wave" or "New Wave music". The French film movement was commonly referred to as "The French New Wave" or "The New Wave movement", which is why saying "The New Wave" is completely ambiguous.
Why wouldn't they, R4? I'd venture more of our posters were young in the 60s than were young in the 80s. We have threads about films from the 30s and 40s that people remember, why not a thread about French New Wave films of the 60s?