Marcel Ichac (22 October 1906 - 9 April 1994) was a French alpinist,

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. Born in

Rueil Rueil-Malmaison () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 78,152. It is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Par ...

, France, Ichac was one of the first people to introduce

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

in cinema with

Ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player o ...

for ''Karakoram'' (1936) and released the first French movie in

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

, ''Nouveaux Horizons'' (1953). He also accompanied the French Alpine Club's 1950 expedition that climbed Annapurna, which was led by Maurice Herzog, and include such climbing luminaries as Lionel Terray, Louis Lachenal and

Gaston Rébuffat Gaston Rébuffat (; 7 May 1921, Marseille – 31 May 1985, Paris) was a French alpinist, mountain guide, and author. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna 1 in 1950 and the first man to climb all six of the ...

. See Annapurna by Maurice Herzog, pub. E P Dutton & Co., date=1952

Filmography

Ichac directed movies of French explorations during the years 1930–1950.Rège, Philippe (2009
''Encyclopedia of French Film Directors''
Volume 1:515 Scarecrow Press Expeditions he directed include: * ''Karakoram'', the first French expedition in Himalaya,

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

(1936) * The first documentary film in the world about the Pilgrimage to Mecca (1940). * ''A l'Assaut des Aiguilles du Diable'' (1942). * Expeditions of

Jacques-Yves Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). Th ...

to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

(1948), the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

(1955 : preparatory to the realization of ''

The Silent World ''The Silent World'' (french: Le Monde du silence) is a 1956 French documentary film co-directed by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle. One of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color, its title derives f ...

''), and

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, ...

(1968). * French Polar Expedition in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

with Paul-Emile Victor (1949). * ''Victoire sur l'Annapurna'', film on the

1950 French Annapurna expedition The 1950 French Annapurna expedition, led by Maurice Herzog, reached the summit of Annapurna I at , the highest peak in the Annapurna Massif. The mountain is in Nepal and the government had given permission for the expedition, the first time it ...

, with the first 8000m summit being reached by

Maurice Herzog Maurice André Raymond Herzog (15 January 191913 December 2012) was a French mountaineer and administrator who was born in Lyon, France. He led the 1950 French Annapurna expedition that first climbed a peak over 8000m, Annapurna, in 1950, and r ...

and

Louis Lachenal Louis Lachenal (17 July 1921 – 25 November 1955), a French climber born in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, was one of the first two mountaineers to climb a summit of more than 8,000 meters. On 3 June 1950 on the 1950 French Annapurna expedition, along ...

). * '' Les Etoiles de Midi'' (1959). Entered into the

9th Berlin International Film Festival The 9th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 26 June – 7 July 1959. The festival welcomed the cinematic movement known as the New Wave and screened the work of directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda and François T ...

. * ''Le Conquérent de l'inutile'' (1967), a film he made about the life of his friend and mountain climber

Lionel Terray Lionel Terray (25 July 1921 – 19 September 1965) was a French climber who made many first ascents, including on the 1955 French Makalu expedition in the Himalaya (with Jean Couzy on 15 May 1955) and Cerro Fitz Roy in the Patagonian Andes (wit ...

. Additionally, Ichac captured images of mountain warfare in World War II and the liberation of

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in ''Tempête sur les Alpes'' (1944-1945).

Bibliography

*''A l'assaut des Aiguilles du Diable'' (1945) *''Regards vers l'Annapurna'' (1951) *''Quand brillent les Etoiles de Midi'' (1960)

Awards

* Silver Lion in the

Venice film festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

for ''Karakoram''. * Directed winner of the Prix du documentaire at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 1952. * Produced ''

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) is a short story by the American writer and Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce. Described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature","An Occurrence at Owl Creek ...

'' which won

Academy Award for Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under various names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Best Short Subject, One- ...

References

External links

Marcel Ichac filmography

Movies of Marcel Ichac

Images of Groenland in 1949 by Marcel Ichac

Marcel Ichac receiving the Prix du Documentaire at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ichac, Marcel French documentary film directors French mountain climbers French explorers French photographers Mountaineering film directors 1906 births 1994 deaths École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs alumni